Eskom calls on South Africans to switch off for Earth Hour today, 25 March from 8.30 -9,30 pm local time.
The power utility says it will measure savings from this hour, plus inform all South Africans of how much energy was saved and translate that to CO2 savings.
Over the years, South Africans have joined millions of people, businesses, and landmarks around the globe,who set that hour aside to host events, switch off their non-essential lights, and make noise for climate change action.
Eskom says it will be celebrating this hour by using its power to showcase its contribution to South Africa’s journey in meeting sustainable development goals. According to the power utility, sustainable development for Eskom includes “providing affordable energy and related services by integration and consideration of economic development, environmental quality, and social equity in business practices in order to continually improve performance and underpin development. As such, Eskom strives for sustainable development principles and practices to be entrenched in all of its decisions, with the aim of ensuring long-term sustainability.”
Earth Hour, which started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, is organised by the World Wide Fund (WWF) as a lights-off event to raise awareness about climate change. Currently, more than 162 countries and territories worldwide are part of this initiative, which engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues.
Eskom also encourages people to make energy efficiency and environmental conservation part of their daily lifestyles, plus reduce their energy consumption every day by using electricity efficiently, switching off all non-essential lights and appliances.
(Edited)
St Francis Chronicle 