HSBC Malta joined HSBC offices and branches in over 40 countries and territories to celebrate Earth Hour last Saturday.

The symbolic "lights out" initiative echoes the objective of the HSBC Climate Partnership which aims to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change, the bank said.

An international event started by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2007, Earth Hour encourages businesses and households to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour on the last Saturday of March every year. It aims to educate the global community about the threats of climate change and how easy it is for individuals and businesses to make small changes to the way they live and operate

“HSBC Malta’s buildings and offices across Malta and Gozo joined Earth Hour 2009. HSBC Malta staff working on shift basis were asked to switch-off office air-conditioning at the indicated time, while employees were encouraged in advance to join HSBC and switch off their lights in their homes as a symbol of support. This is becoming a major event in the international environmental calendar and I hope we will see this initiative growing in prominence in Malta in coming years,” said HSBC Malta CEO, Mr Alan Richards.

Last year, Earth Hour reached out to more than 400 cities with 50 million adults participating in the initiative. Major icons went dark including the Rome’s Coliseum, Sydney Opera House, and Antarctica’s Scott Station. It is estimated that this year’s Earth Hour reached out to 1 billion people across 1000 cities.

The light on a number of landmarks in Malta, including the Mriehal aquaduct and Portes de Bombes were switched off as part of Eurth Hour.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.