Following the launch of its 10th Annual Sustainability Report, Philips Electronics announced it is the Education Partner of the WWF’s Earth Hour. The climate change campaign, which began in Sydney last year, will take place in twenty four international cities this year on Saturday March 29, at 8pm local team to raise awareness of the simple things individuals, businesses and governments can do to combat rising greenhouse emissions and become more energy efficient.
In a world first last year, 2.2 million Sydney residents turned off lights and appliances for one hour as a step towards reducing the city’s greenhouse gas pollution. This year, that number is set to reach the tens of millions with some of the world’s most recognisable icons going dark in a collective global stand against climate change.
The following cities have pledged to turn out their lights on Earth Hour, with more being added each week: Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, Bangkok, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal, Dublin, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense, Manila, Suva, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Christchurch .
Earth Hour education program
As the world’s leading supplier of energy efficient light globes, Philips was a participant of Earth Hour 2007 and felt there was more that could be done to grow the initiative. The company has committed the business to support more actively in this year’s initiative and also to partner with the school education campaign.
“As a global business we are acutely aware of our duties as a citizen of the world and the role we can play in improving people’s lives,” said Harry van Dyk, CEO Philips Electronics Australia.
“We believe concerted action in climate change is a social responsibility. As such, Philips will be supporting Earth Hour to educate the thousands of primary and secondary school children around Australia.”
The school education program pack will be available via print supplements in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age to students and teachers in New South Wales and Victoria respectively and online to empower students to make a simple switch by turning of their lights and appliances for one hour to address the climate change challenge.
In addition, schools in other states and across the world will be able to download the same education packs from the Earth Hour website to minimise the freight and printing costs associated with the material distribution.
"It is great to have Philips on board for Earth Hour again this year. It is with Philips' help that we have been able to deliver an education program for schools to accompany Earth Hour and to take the message of sustainable living to school children across the country. We applaud Philips ‘commitment to sustainable policies and its commitment to the environment and are very pleased to be working with the company again," said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley.
Challenge to Philips stakeholders
Philips will also be challenging all of its stakeholders including: employees, suppliers and retailers to pledge their support for Earth Hour 2008.
“It’s not enough to simply align our brand on paper with Earth Hour—we are going to promote this association through our entire network both in Australia and around the world. Philips hopes Earth Hour continues to grow and we believe we can help achieve this by gaining the commitment of those that we touch on a day-to-day basis,” concluded van Dyk.
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