New York city hotels to go green for 2016

Sixteen hotels in New York city, including the iconic Waldorf and Pierre, have joined the NYC Carbon Challenge - a city programme aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30 per cent in the next decade.

The programme formed part of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge had earlier been joined by universities, hospitals and businesses such as Google and Goldman Sachs.

According to the city's estimates, efforts of the 16 hotels would cut city-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 32,000 metric tonnes.

Among the hotels that are expected to participate are the Crowne Plaza Times Square, Dream Downtown, Grand Hyatt New York, Hotel Pennsylvania, Hudson Hotel, Loews Regency Hotel and The Peninsula New York.

Between them, the hotels boast over 11,000 rooms. New York received over 56 million tourists in 2014.

City officials hope the move by the globally renowned hotels would inspire others to follow suit.

''If some of New York's most iconic hotels can significantly reduce their carbon footprint, anyone can,'' said de Blasio.

According to commentators, the green measures could include retrofitting buildings with updated, efficient equipment for heating and cooling, replacing boilers, improving lighting and adding insulation.

Cutting emissions follows the hotel's motto of ''the difficult immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer,'' the Waldorf Astoria management said in a statement.

Under the city projections, the hotels would need to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 32,000 metric tons to live up to their pledge.

The hotels' pledge forms part of a wider municipal initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 per cent by 2050. Buildings accounted for nearly three-quarters of citywide emissions, according to authorities.