Tomorrow, Saturday, the lights in Vienna’s town hall will go out for an hour. The backdrop is WWF’s ‘Earth Hour’ campaign, which aims to set an example for climate protection. The town hall has been continuously involved since 2013.
“Earth Hour” is a global climate and environmental protection campaign launched in 2007 by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Australia and has been held annually in March ever since. The aim of the first campaign was to reduce the city of Sydney’s CO₂ emissions by five percent within one year.
Van der Bellen posted a video
Various institutions in Austria are also participating, for example the town hall in Vienna. This time the lights will go out for an hour on Saturday, March 23 from 8:30 PM. A video announcing ‘Earth Hour’ was posted on the Instagram account of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. The politician can be seen in front of the town hall with a smartphone. At first it is still light, but eventually the lights in the building and on Van der Bellen’s smartphone go out.
Here you can see Van der Bellen’s video for ‘Earth Hour’.
“Awareness raising is important”
“Raising awareness plays an essential role in protecting the climate, so recurring actions such as Earth Hour are very important,” Jürgen Czernohorszky, Vienna’s climate councilor, said in a press release. They point to the urgency of the climate crisis and the urgent need for action.
The city of Vienna has set itself the goal of being climate neutral by 2040. To achieve this, buildings would have to become emission-free – by switching from fossil fuels to climate-friendly alternatives. Similar projects have been going on for years, such as the construction of a photovoltaic installation on the roof of the town hall or the renovation offensive ‘We SAN Vienna’, which, for example, includes renovation advice and financing.
Renovate for climate goals
“Renovation is a topic of the future (…) Moreover, with the new renovation and decarbonization regulation, we are using innovative instruments to make the renovation of residential buildings easier and make an important contribution to achieving our climate goals,” says Kathrin Gaál , Vienna City Councilor for Housing.
Here you can see a video from WWF Austria.
The environmental protection organization WWF recently drew attention to the link between food and the environment through Instagram videos. It was said that more than a third of greenhouse gases would be produced in this area. At EU level, the vote on a law to regulate nature restoration was postponed on Friday.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
