Bright Outlook for Earth Hour

In 2009 we showed our continued commitment to the environment through teaming up with the WWF to promote Earth Hour in Dubai for the second year running.

The event saw Dubai contributing 146,000kWh of electricity savings to the Global initiative in the one hour.

“Earth Hour is a powerful symbol of what can be achieved through individual action on a global scale, with the whole world coming together in a response to tackle climate change. In the UAE we are keen to grasp the momentum generated by this global occasion.”

Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director, Emirates Wildlife Society – WWF

Background

The Earth Hour movement began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and is now a worldwide climate change initiative.

On March 28 2009, millions of people across 14 time zones switched off non-essential lighting for one hour. 88 countries and more than 4,000 cities joined Earth Hour 2009, ten times more cities than Earth Hour 2008.

A record breaking year

In Dubai, as well as record numbers of residents switching off non-essential lighting, thousands braved the unusually gloomy weather from 8:30pm to 9:30pm to show their collective support at The Walk in Jumeirah Beach Residence.

Residents and high-ranking officials from many of Dubai’s leading organizations placed over 5,000 lit lanterns to spell out the words ‘Earth Hour’ in English and Arabic on the beach front. This created a high impact visual message for the active community to see.

Dubai's Participation

Earth Hour 2009 in Dubai had the official support of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, as well as the Dubai Government.

Our Participation

Our verticals took part in various imaginative ways and played their role in contributing to the Global initiative.

Hospitality

Within our hospitality vertical, Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts and Jumeirah Restaurants led the way with a range of activities:

  • Amongst other energy saving initiatives, external lights were turned off, and internal corridors, lobbies and restaurant lights were also dimmed to low levels and fountains were switched off.
  • The message was spread with emails sent to colleagues encouraging office lights to be switched off and non-essential equipment unplugged before leaving the building – and to commit to the same activities at home.
  • An internal letter to all guests to explain the goal of Earth Hour was also distributed.
  • The activities varied between restaurants, but in general half of the lights in dining areas were turned off or kept to a minimal.
  • Machinery was turned off where possible including; standing chillers, deep fryers, dishwashers, duck roasters, pasta making machines, dough mixers and many more appliances.

Business Parks

Lights at Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Knowledge Village, Dubai International Academic City, Dubai Outsource Zone, Dubai Studio City, International Media Production Zone, Enpark and DuBiotech, were switched off.

Investments

  • All Dubai Group employees globally were asked to participate in Earth Hour wherever they were on March 28.
  • Subsidiary investee companies were actively encouraged to show their support.
  • Easy tips on how to “live Green” were distributed across the company.

Property

  • In addition to switching off all lights at its headquarters, Corporate Responsibility ambassadors at Dubai Properties Group played a very active role in communicating the earth hour message to stakeholders and over 15,000 customers in UAE.
  • These included tenants at Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai International Finance Center, TECOM and Business Bay.

Realizing a vision

Earth Hour’s objectives seek to raise awareness of measures which the individual can make to help reduce the impact of Global Warming across the globe.

This year saw more people than ever taking part in the initiative and we would like to extend a special thanks to all participants for supporting Earth Hour 2009 – helping to put Dubai on the ‘green’ map.


For more information on Earth Hour visit www.earthhour.org