ITC Grand Chola,  World’s Largest Hotel and Commercial building to achieve USGBC LEED Zero Carbon status

ITC Hotels, the world’s largest chain of hotels with the maximum number of LEED Platinum Certified Properties has been accorded yet another distinction by the USGBC (United States Green Building Council), making ITC Grand Chola, Chennai the largest hotel in the world and commercial building to achieve the LEED Zero Carbon Certification.

Earlier, in March 2021, ITC Windsor, Bengaluru became the first hotel in the world to achieve the LEED Zero Carbon Certification.

LEED Zero encourages a holistic approach for buildings and places, which will contribute to a regenerative future. Sharing the same vision, ITC Hotels decade strong ‘Responsible Luxury’ initiative seeks to adopt the highest standards of planet positive experiences in its operations. 

ITC Grand Chola has demonstrated extraordinary sustainability leadership over a decade by consistently enhancing its energy efficiency with world class energy efficient and climate friendly technologies. It has further invested in building the renewable energy footprint through self-owned wind farm and solar energy.

The LEED Zero carbon certification demonstrates a deep commitment to implementing building and design strategies that assure an enhanced quality of life. It includes creating an environment where any human-produced carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere through technological or natural means. 

Zubin Songadwala, Area Manager – South, ITC Hotels & General Manager, ITC Grand Chola, affirmed, “ITC Hotels has been at the helm of exemplary sustainability leadership with its innovative energy efficiency, renewable energy and mitigation of greenhouse gases emission initiatives. The LEED Zero carbon certification for ITC Grand Chola and ITC Windsor is one step closer to creating a better world for all of us where buildings are actually generating more energy than they consume and removing more carbon than they create.”

ITC Hotels has pioneered several ground-breaking initiatives on environment, hotel ecosystem, health, and well-being. These include achieving LEED platinum rating, being one of the first chains to eliminate single use plastic free products, deployment of radiation harmonisers across the chain, farm to fork low carbon footprint cuisine, clean air among others.

For more than two decades, LEED has provided a framework for creating high

performance green buildings and spaces and is an internationally recognized symbol of excellence. Supplementing this framework, the U.S. Green Building Council has developed LEED Zero, a complement to LEED that verifies the achievement of net zero goals. LEED Zero represents a new level of achievement in green building that is the goal of LEED certified projects around the world.

(*LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)