Two calendars in one city
Climate Week NYC runs September 20-27, 2026. Climate Group organizes the week, and the organization states that it has driven climate action for over two decades. It runs the program in coordination with the UN General Assembly.
The organizer reports more than 100,000 attendees each year and more than 1,000 events across New York City and beyond. The 2026 program lists twelve themes. Buildings and Infrastructure sits first on that list, and Transport and Travel sits twelfth. Climate Group frames the week as implementation ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, in November.
The Opening Ceremony falls on Monday 21 September. The Hub Live runs 21-22 September with three plenary flagship sessions.
Airlines, hotel companies and event organizers publish decarbonisation targets. New York publishes the accounting that tests them.
Aviation: a five-year test result
IATA member airlines passed a net zero carbon resolution at the 77th IATA Annual General Meeting in Boston on 4 October 2021. IATA's pathway assigns 65% of the required reduction to sustainable aviation fuel, 13% to new aircraft technology, 3% to infrastructure and operational efficiency, and 19% to offsets and carbon capture.
IATA published its SAF estimates on 6 June 2026. Global production should reach around 2.4 million tonnes in 2026. That volume equals 0.8% of aviation fuel use, and it costs airlines $4.3 billion. IATA puts the 2050 requirement at around 500 million tonnes of SAF.
Director General Willie Walsh called 2026 another disappointing year for SAF production. He noted the five-year interval between the net zero resolution and the 0.8% share, and said the path to meeting 65% of the industry's needs in 2050 grows more difficult each year.
The mandates run ahead of the supply. IATA reports that UK and EU rules require around 0.6 million tonnes of e-SAF by 2030. Capacity in operation and under construction totals around 0.02 million tonnes, from a single operating site. IATA states that approximately 20 commercial-scale refineries would deliver the mandated volume.
The hotel ledger: ratios down, tonnage up
IHG's 2025 Responsible Business Report states the target as a 46% absolute reduction across Scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2030 against a 2019 baseline, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. The report credits 2025 with a 10.2% reduction in energy per available room and an 11.0% reduction in carbon per available room against 2019.
Total carbon emissions rose 7.7% over the same period. IHG attributes the rise to missing clean energy infrastructure in many markets and to the opening of more hotels, and the same report states that the company remains off track. Global market-based emissions were 6,723,559 tonnes CO2e in 2025 against 6,245,072 tonnes in 2019.
Marriott's 2025 Serve 360 report states that emissions inside its near-term target boundary fell 1.4% against a 2019 baseline, and emissions inside its long-term boundary fell 6%. The near-term commitment is a 46.2% absolute reduction by 2030. The 2025 performance tables record Scope 1 emissions of 1,273,630 tonnes CO2e in 2024 against 1,313,062 in 2019, Scope 2 market-based emissions of 5,364,156 tonnes against 5,336,064, and Scope 3 emissions of 12,097,741 tonnes against 13,334,239.
Hilton measures from a 2008 baseline. Its Travel with Purpose 2030 goals are a 75% cut in Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity from managed hotels and a 56% cut in Scope 3 intensity from franchised hotels. Hilton reports 50.9% and 36.0% delivered through LightStay across more than 9,100 properties.
Three companies use three baselines and three denominators. Each reports percentage progress at length and the absolute totals inside a table.
The events sector has published no numbers
The Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge was developed between September and October 2021. Signatories commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, an interim global reduction of 50% by 2030, a published pathway within 1.5 years of signing, and progress reports at least every two years.
NZCE's Reporting Initiative page records the outcome of the first cycle. The initiative kept the results confidential and published no aggregate results, because it judged that not all signatories could answer every question. A buyer selecting a venue has no aggregate figure to work from.
New York runs an annual meter
Local Law 97 of 2019 took effect in 2024. It caps annual carbon emissions for most buildings over 25,000 gross square feet, tightens the limits in 2030, sets a net-zero limit in 2050, and applies a penalty of $268 per ton of CO2 equivalent above the limit.
The Department of Buildings reported to the City Council in September 2026 on the first compliance year. About 95% of the nearly 30,000 buildings required to file did so. Of the 10,437 market-rate properties that filed, about 95% met the 2024 limit. Hotels sit inside that group, alongside offices and schools.
The allowance tightens in published numbers. Under 1 RCNY §103-14 the hotel emissions factor is 0.00987 tonnes CO2e per square foot for 2024-2029 and 0.003850668 for 2030-2034. That is a 61% cut in the allowance at the decade boundary. NYC Accelerator reports that approximately 57% of properties will exceed their 2030-2034 limits, measured against 2024 benchmarking data.
What the hotel sector can defend
Hotel companies hold a defensible position on the units they control.
Three commitments survive scrutiny. First, absolute tonnage targets with the boundary printed on the target, which IHG and Marriott both publish. Second, property-level reporting inside a city filing regime, because the LL97 figure arrives certified by a registered design professional and lands in a public record each May. Third, intensity targets with an old baseline, provided the same page carries the absolute total, as IHG does with its 6,723,559 tonnes.
A 50.9% intensity reduction measured from 2008 leaves the tonnage open. A buyer cannot check that figure against a total.
Owners, asset managers and procurement leads should ask every hotel for three items: absolute tonnes for the most recent reported year, the boundary those tonnes cover, and the assurance attached to the figure. Put the question in the RFP and make the answer a condition of the award.