- Global leaders, celebrities, individuals, youth groups and businesses from 192 countries and territories came together at 8:30pm on Saturday 26 March, to stand in solidarity for both people and planet.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres, HRH Prince of Wales, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Chinese supermodel Liu Wen, astronaut André Kuipers and International musician and environmental campaigner Ellie Goulding, were among the many influential leaders and celebrities who supported Earth Hour 2022, drawing attention to the event.
- Landmarks including Sydney Opera House, Beijing Phoenix Center, Taipei 101, Petronas Towers, India Gate, the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer, and Empire State Building, took part in the signature switch off moment.
Photo: © Esteban Vega La Rotta / WWF-Colombia
27 March 2022, Singapore – Earth Hour, the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, took place yesterday, 26 March at 8:30pm, offering a message of solidarity for people and planet.
Taking place against the backdrop of challenging times, Earth Hour supporters including high profile figures such as UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and international musician and environmental campaigner Ellie Goulding, gathered in their millions to share in a moment of reflection for the one home we all share.
Global landmarks including the Sydney Opera House, Beijing Phoenix Center, Taipei 101, Petronas Towers, India Gate, the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer, and Empire State Building, took part in the symbolic ‘switch off’ which this year seeks to communicate a safer, fairer and more sustainable future for everyone.
Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International, said,
“This year’s Earth Hour took place at a moment in time where public support for a more sustainable, fairer and peaceful future has never been stronger. We are humbled by the ways in which our global community has marked this annual event with community-led activities, proactive campaigns, and quiet moments of reflection.
As the world’s largest grassroots environmental movement, Earth Hour continues to push for a more prosperous future where we are able to thrive in harmony with nature, with one another and the one home we all share. We hope that this message of solidarity for people and planet lives on and inspires individuals and organisations to take positive steps in helping to shape our future”.
Leading political figures including UN Secretary-General António Guterres and President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola encouraged the public to be future focussed in the effort to protect both people and planet. Global delegates currently meeting in Geneva for the latest round of UN biodiversity negotiations ahead of the COP15 biodiversity conference taking place in China later this year, paused to take part in the ‘switch off’ in a moment of reflection on the enormity of their role at this historic time. An introduction by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary at the Convention on Biological Diversity, and accompanying inspirational video message from Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International was screened to the room of influential policy makers. This UN CBD COP15 presents a once-in-a-decade opportunity for leaders to agree upon a global biodiversity framework which reverses biodiversity loss by 2030 for a nature-positive world.
Environmental activists, celebrities and royalty from across the globe took to social media to raise awareness for this pivotal moment. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and HRH The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall lent their support across Twitter, while international musician and environmental campaigner Ellie Goulding joined the campaign building on a long-term relationship that has included a visit to Greenland’s Jakobshavn glacier with climatologists, where she saw the rapid rate of ice loss first-hand.
Chinese actress Dilraba Dilmurat expressed her support for nature, while Chinese supermodel Liu Wen raised awareness on her chosen topic, sustainable fashion. Colombian model Claudia Bahamón and Peruvian actress Gianella Neyra took to Instagram at 8:30pm local time, while Game of Thrones Actor Iwan Rheon shared his behind-the-scenes candlelit ‘switch off’ moment with the WWF-Wales Earth Hour playlist. And no strangers to having a broader view on the planet, Astronauts Matthias Maurer, André Kuipers, and the European Space Agency also encouraged the public to show their support for Earth Hour.
More than 190 countries and territories took part in this year, marking the moment with activities and events including:
- China worked with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity through the ‘Smiles’ selfie crowdsourcing campaign as a lead up to the upcoming UN CBD COP15 in Kunming later this year. It hosted its live-stream Earth Hour event in Beijing Phoenix Center with the attendance of climate experts, industry leaders, and celebrities to promote sustainable living. The evening lights-out ceremony included an immersive theatrical performance, which took viewers on a journey to experience the future of life on Earth.
- India commemorated its "75th year of independence” by recognising efforts of WWF-India 'Conservation Heroes’ who have helped #ShapeOurFuture. The campaign focused on the approach of "One India. One WWF. For people and nature" through community radios and content in local Indian languages to reach as many people across the country as possible.
- Greece linked Earth Hour with the Eat4Change campaign, highlighting the important role food plays in creating community, unity and identity, along with information on food production practices and the call for a more sustainable diet for us and the planet. Earth Hour supporters can take part in a live cooking event with famous Greek chef, George Tsoulis.
- Musical superstars from across the continent of Africa collaborated for the launch of Song For Nature; Mr Leo from Cameroon, Ben Pol from Tanzania and Khendy Key from Mozambique raised their voices to make nature a priority for our future generations.
- Jamaica channelled the message of ‘Shape Our Future’ through an intimate concert, live streamed across Youtube.
The conversation continued online with Earth Hour 2022 generating over 7.8 billion impressions globally on social media channels and other platforms including TikTok, and its related hashtags trending in 35 countries across Google or Twitter search.
*Ends*
Notes to Editors:
For more information, please contact:
Eleanor O’Leary, WWF International, Media Relations Manager, eoleary@wwfint.org
Assets and links
Earth Hour 2022 B-Roll footage
Hashtags: #EarthHour #Connect2Earth
About Earth Hour
Earth Hour is WWF's flagship global environmental movement. Born in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has grown to become the world's largest grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring individuals, communities, businesses and organisations in more than 190 countries and territories to take tangible environmental action.
Historically, Earth Hour has focused on the climate crisis, but more recently, Earth Hour has strived to address a range of concerns facing people and planet. The movement recognizes the role of individuals in creating solutions to the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges and harnesses the collective power of its millions of supporters to drive change.
Since its inception in 2007, Earth Hour has inspired global initiatives for the protection of nature, climate, and the environment, helping drive awareness, action and policy change. Highlights of the movement include helping in the creation of a 3.4 million hectare protected marine area in Argentina, a 2,700-hectare Earth Hour forest in Uganda, pushing for a ban on single-use plastics and Styrofoam products in the Ecuadorian capital, and initiating the planting of 20,000 mangrove seedlings in 13 cities in Indonesia.
Earth Hour is kindly supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety with funding from the International Climate Initiative (IKI), as a part of the project “Scaling up Biodiversity Communication”.
About WWF
WWF is an independent conservation organisation, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 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. Visit www.panda.org/news for the latest news and media resources and follow us on Twitter @WWF_media.
About UN CBD COP15
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 conference (COP15) is set to take place in 2022. COP15 represents a once-in-a-decade opportunity for global leaders to gather to agree upon a global biodiversity framework which reverses nature loss by 2030 for a nature-positive world. The most recent round of negotiations ahead of COP15 are currently taking place in Geneva and conclude on 29 March.