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All Austrian provinces to participate in Earth Hour
Vienna, Monday, 15 March 2010 - For the first time in the history of Earth Hour in Austria, in all provinces lights will go off for one hour. The mayors of eight provincial capitals will turn off the lights of the most famous landmarks. Due to complications, only the federal capital Vienna will not participate in the lights out action at government level.
At a corporate level, however, Telekom Austria is ensuring the participation of Vienna in Earth Hour 2010 by turning off the green lights of the Arsenal Tower, one of the Austrian capitals most prominent landmarks.
“By switching off the lights of Arsenal Tower we use a symbolic sign of the importance of conscientious use of energy in the Earth Hour 2010. For us as a leading technology company the efficient use of energy and climate protection is not just a slogan but an integral part of corporate strategy”, says Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Telekom Austria Group.
The mayors of all other main cities will engage in switching off their landmarks - the Golden Roof in Innsbruck, in Bregenz the Martin’s Tower, the City Hall in St. Poelten, in Graz the Clock Tower, in Klagenfurt, the Fairy Dragon, the Ars Electronica Center in Linz and the Lentos Art Museum, the Esterházy Palace and other buildings in Eisenstadt. Salzburg will leave the entire city lights off with the fortress Hohensalzburg to 9.30 p.m. (except the street lights switched off for security reasons) and in Vienna the Arsenal Tower will be dark. Many other cities and towns such as Vöcklabruck, Schwaz in Tyrol and Leobersdorf have also pledged to turn off the lights.
WWF Austria calls upon all people, cities, municipalities and companies in Austria to participate also online in the campaign and has set up a website: www.earthhour.at. There anyone can switch off the lights symbolically and light a candle even before the 27th March. 5,000 Austrians have already registered so far. Earth Hour in Austria gets support this year also from the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts as well as several corporations and businesses. More than 150 of the largest websites in Austria support the campaign.
Earth Hour, which was founded in 2007 by WWF, is to remind the world before the climate conference in Mexico to the threats posed by global warming and set an example for the will to fight against climate change. In Austria Earth Hour takes place since 2008. Many celebrities from business, sports, film and television support the global campaign in Austria.
2009 more than 4,000 cities and towns, 20,000 companies, 8,000 schools, 5,500 organizations in 88 countries participated in Earth Hour, which reached nearly one billion people. Among the hundreds of dark landmarks were the Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower and the Acropolis. The UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon called the Earth Hour as a “message on climate change for all people in the world.”
WWF calls for a globally binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 80 per cent by 2050, the effective protection of rainforests, national and international programs to promote energy efficiency and the conversion of the world towards renewable energy resources.
Further information
MMag. Franko Petri, Leader Media Department of WWF Austria, ph. 0043-1-48817-231 or 0043-676-83488-231, Email: franko.petri@wwf.at. Website: www.earthhour.at.
18 March 2010: Thousands of offices of some of the world’s leading corporations will be supporting this year’s Earth Hour “lights out” initiative for effective climate change action.
Many of the companies will also be encouraging staff to individually join the expected hundreds of millions of others from every continent who will turn lights off for one hour from 8.30 pm on Saturday, March 27.
The ever-growing list of corporate support around the world for Earth Hour 2010 includes Canon, Coca-Cola, HSBC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wells Fargo. The companies are emphasising that while corporate efforts for Earth Hour are symbolic gestures, they also highlight the critical need for more action around climate protection.
One of the world’s leading financial institutions, HSBC, is taking the opportunity with its commitment of world-wide support to Earth Hour 2010 to reinforce the need for greater consideration of energy use habits.
“HSBC will switch off lights in its offices around the world to highlight to our employees, customers and the public the continued importance of thinking about the way we consume resources,” said Head of Group Corporate Sustainability for HSBC, Mr Simon Martin.
With around 8,000 office locations across 88 countries, HSBC’s worldwide power-down aims to inspire the behavioural change they feel is required to address the ongoing indiscriminate threat of global warming.
“Climate change remains a clear challenge to human society, and the symbolic act of powering down our offices for an hour is a way of heightening awareness of the need for everybody to act responsibly and cohesively manage the challenge,” Mr Martin said.
Similarly, communications giant Nokia Siemens Networks will urge its offices worldwide to ‘flick the switch’ on March 27, while at the same time encouraging its 64,000 strong staff and worldwide customer base to be part of a global resolution to climate change.
Coca-Cola will be turning out lights in many offices and bottling facilities around the world while also helping to raise awareness by activating iconic marketing assets.
Wells Fargo, which is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent through energy efficiency efforts in its own operations, is encouraging its customers to participate in Earth Hour through messages on its ATMs expected to reach more than eight million people. The company is also turning off its own non-essential lights where practical. Wells Fargo Green Teams (grassroots groups of Wells Fargo team members that help drive environmental stewardship) are encouraging co-workers to participate in the event.
Mary Wenzel, director of Environmental Affairs at Wells Fargo said, “While the 60 minutes of energy saved during the event is important, the true significance of this event is that it demonstrates that by both working together and also taking personal responsibility for turning off lights, unplugging electrical items and making our homes more energy efficient each of us can make a positive difference.
“Please join us.”
Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics' (WWL) will lead up to Earth Hour with an “energy efficiency week” in its main office in Oslo, with staff invited to “find wasted energy in the building”, while WWL offices globally are being encouraged to plan their own activities for Earth Hour.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the world’s largest professional services firm, have conducted a study of the international business community, with some enlightening revelations into attitudes towards the global management of the climate dilemma. Titled Appetite for Change, the world’s most comprehensive survey of its kind reveals that 84% of corporate executives believe global warming will change the way they do business over the next two to three years.
Territories across the global PwC network are also measuring their carbon emissions to set and enforce reduction targets to meet the impending changes to the international business landscape. In the days leading up to Earth Hour, many PwC offices across the PwC network will identify innovative ways to engage their people and encourage participation in Earth Hour 2010, the world’s greatest show of action on global warming.
The implementation of sustainable business practices is not just an environmental imperative, it’s a commercial one, too,” said Earth Hour Executive Director Andy Ridley.
“Earth Hour brings together cities, communities, businesses and individuals on the journey to positive action on climate change.”
For more information on how your business can show support for climate action visit www.earthhour.org.
-ends-
For more information about Earth Hour 2010 or to interview Andy Ridley, please contact:
Kirsten Hodgon, Communications Director, Earth Hour Global
Tel: +61 (0) 424 507 095 E: khodgon@wwf.org.au
About Earth Hour
Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 27, 2010 at 8:30 PM to show their support for action on climate change. The event began in Sydney in 2007, when 2 million people switched off their lights. In 2008, more than 50 million people around the globe participated. In 2009, participation swelled to hundreds of millions as 4159 cities, towns and municipalities in 88 countries and many of the world’s best known landmarks participated.
About WWF
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.