Retailers across Europe have announced their support for 'Earth Hour', an initiative launched by the WWF, which encourages homes and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour this Saturday, between 8.30 and 9.30pm.
In Spain, El Corte Inglés has announced that it will shot down the lighting of its main facades for the hour; marking the ninth year that the retailer has lent its support for 'La Hora del Planeta'. The group said that it will communicate this action through all its internal and external channels.
Also in Spain, Eroski has said that it will carry out a 'symbolic blackout' of its web pages www.eroski.es and www.consumer.es for the hour, and highlighted the recent collaboration agreements it has signed with the WWF to promote environmental policies regarding the sustainability of fishing grounds, improving energy efficiency and promoting more responsible consumption.
"Consumers are increasingly demanding sustainability criteria and at Eroski we are working to meet these demands for more responsible consumption," said sustainability director Alejandro Martínez Berriochoa.
In Germany, Edeka will lend its support to Earth Hour for the fifth year in a row by turning off the lights at its headquarters in Hamburg, as well as the 19 offices and logistics centres operated by its subsidiary Netto Marken-Discount across Germany.
'For Edeka, climate protection in the sense of good governance has long been an effective component of our corporate culture,' a company statement said.
Earth Hour started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, and since then has grown to encompass 7,000 cities and towns in 178 countries. As part of the initiative, which seeks to raise awareness of energy consumption, landmarks such as the Colosseum in Rome and Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro also see their lights switched off.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
