Earth Hour HQ to relocate to S’pore [News]

February 21, 2012 by Eugene Tay
Filed under News

By Qiuyi Tan, Channel NewsAsia, 20 Feb 2012.

Climate change movement Earth Hour is moving its global headquarters from Sydney, Australia to Singapore.

It is expected to move to Singapore in May.

Earth Hour started as a one-city campaign in Sydney in 2007.

By 2011, the movement has spread to 5,251 cities and towns, reaching some 1.8 billion people in 135 countries.

The global movement encourages individuals, businesses and communities to switch off lights for one hour on the last Saturday of March every year.

Earth Hour executive director and co-founder Andy Ridley said Singapore offers the level of connectivity and opportunity the campaign needs to move forward.

He said: “Great for business, great for communications, brilliant for digital. And it’s got great people who can work for us.

“To move to Singapore in a geographical sense makes total sense – Earth Hour is growing really big in India and in China and in Indonesia, as well as Latin America and the (United) States. So many reasons to move here.

“Sydney is the most beautiful city and we’ll be sad to move from there but it’s a long way away from the rest of the world.”

Earth Hour’s Singapore headquarters is expected to lead the campaign’s outreach to businesses.

It will join some 135 international non-profit organisations currently using Singapore as a global base.

A key objective of Earth Hour is to get people to go “beyond the hour” in their commitment to environmental protection.

This year’s Earth Hour takes place on 31 March, at 8.30pm.

The Singapore event will be on Orchard Road, and organisers are hoping for a 6,000-strong turnout.

Source: Channel NewsAsia