Dubai: The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has urged everyone to turn off unnecessary lights and electric appliances in solidarity with Earth Hour on Saturday, March 26, 8.30pm to 9.30pm.
Earth Hour is an iconic global movement initiated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2007 that involves switching off all non-essential electricity for an hour to raise awareness for climate change and nature loss.
At Expo 2020 Dubai, Emirates Nature-WWF (the regional representative for WWF) will lead a special ‘Switch Off Parade’ around the Expo site, also on Saturday night.
The procession will make its way throughout Expo 2020 from 8.30pm, starting at Peru Pavilion in Mobility District, and ending at 9.30pm at the UK Pavilion. An estimated 60+ pavilions will be participating in a symbolic switch off at intervals of one minute, for the duration of Earth Hour, to honour the iconic global event, organisers said.
Shaping our Future
The celebration of Earth Hour is themed ‘Shaping our Future’. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of DEWA, noted “Dubai was the first Arab city to participate in Earth Hour, reflecting the emirate’s keenness to raise awareness of the danger of carbon dioxide emissions to limit consumption levels and waste of resources”.
Al Tayer added: “DEWA plays a pioneering role in supporting national and global efforts in environmental sustainability. This stems from our vision to become a globally leading sustainable innovative corporation and help achieve the wise leadership vision to make Dubai a sustainable city. According to DEWA, since its launch in 2008 and until 2021, Earth Hour-Dubai has achieved cumulative savings up to 3.12 GWh of electricity and reduced 1,607 tonnes of carbon emissions. DEWA also launched multiple programmes, initiatives and events for conservation. Between 2012 and 2021, these efforts resulted in achieving cumulative savings of up to 2.2 TWh of electricity and 5.6 billion gallons of water or equivalent to Dh1.2 billion savings and reducing 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Khawla Al Mehairi, executive vice president of Strategy and Government Communications at DEWA, said everyone should adopt “simple, daily behaviour such as using solar power, energy conservation, using EV (electric vehicle) and public transportation to reduce the carbon footprint and ensure a brighter future for generations to come.”
Share on social media
DEWA has also urged the public to use social media to express their commitment to protecting the environment. They can use the hashtags #EarthHourDubai, #EarthHourUAE, and #Connect2Earth.
