WTC Moscow supports Earth Hour

For one hour, the illumination of more than 18,000 architectural monuments and buildings around the world goes out, and lights and electrical appliances are turned off in thousands of apartments.

World Trade Center Moscow has been participating in this global action for many years. This year was no exception. On the territory of the complex architectural, artistic and landscape illumination as well as  advertising constructions lighting were turned off for an hour. The electricity consumption in the WTC buildings was partially limited.

Earth Hour is a global international action organized by the World 1961

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the purpose of which is to draw attention to responsible attitude to nature, to urge to take decisive measures in order to climate protection and natural resources’ reasonable consumption, because natural resources of our planet are not endless.

WWF Executive Director for Nature Conservancy Christophe Heinrich said prior to the start of Earth Hour: “We want to show a symbol of peace these days, as well as protect the environment and species diversity. We are very dependent on fossil fuels, there are those types of energy sources – oil and gas – that make the earth warms, so the today’s evening message is to save energy.”

The first Earth Hour took place in 2007 in Australia. About 2 million people took part in the action. The following year, 35 countries joined it. In 2022, billions of people in 188 countries took part in the global action.

Traditionally, the illumination of buildings and architectural monuments, including the Roman Colosseum, London's Big Ben and the British Parliament, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Australian Sydney Opera House, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, as well as the lights of the war memorial in India and the Dubai Expo has been turned off for 1 hour.

In Russia, the action was first held in 2009. The theme of this year's Russian Earth Hour was Ecotourism.

On the eve of the action, Dmitry Gorshkov, director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia, said: “In this year's Earth Hour, we ask you to think about what all the earthlings have in common. We have only one planet, and it belongs to everyone. We must do everything to preserve it, even in the most difficult times. It is important to remember that other "earthlings" live here along with people: millions of species of living beings. We must take care of each other and our common home in any situation.”

In Moscow, where the action is supported by the Government of Moscow and the RF Ministry of Natural Resources, the illumination of the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral and GUM, Ostankino TV Tower, the main building of Moscow State University, the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Hill, the Moscow City towers, the Government House of the Russian Federation, WTC Moscow  and many other structures traditionally went out.

In the Moscow Region, Earth Hour was supported by 42 urban districts by turning off the electricity and outdoor lighting at 624 facilities, including the administrative buildings of Mosoblgaz (73 facilities) and Mosoblenergo (60 facilities), which made it possible to save, as noted by the Ministry of Energy of the Moscow Region, 21 409.3 kilowatt-hours.

In St. Petersburg, the illumination of more than 40 buildings and structures - the illumination of buildings on the Neva embankments, the facades of the buildings of the General Staff, the Academy of Arts, the Hermitage, the Menshikov Palace, the Kunstkamera, the Trinity Cathedral and other objects, as well as the illumination of the Palace, Trinity and Annunciation bridges and partly the Peter and Paul Fortress and Admiralty -  was turned off. In the evening, a concert was held on the spit of Vasilevsky Island, dedicated to the global environmental Earth Hour campaign.

Since 2011, more than 20 million people from hundreds of localities take part in Earth Hour in Russia every year.

In 2022, in addition to the traditional shutdown of building lighting, for the third time the Earth Hour was also held online. Everyone could not only symbolically turn off the lights at home, but also join the broadcast of meditative videos about the nature of Russia on VKontakte social network and support the environmental project on the campaign website.

Of course, an hourly blackout cannot significantly improve the ecological situation on Earth. But thanks to this action, many people are able to understand that saving electricity will ultimately reduce harmful emissions into the Earth's atmosphere. The campaign annually gives every caring person an opportunity to contribute to the conservation of the health of our planet.