Due to the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Earth Hour will not hold many activities which gather many people like previous years, such as cycling or the nationwide light off event in many major cities across the country but instead several online programmes will be held.
Several online programmes will be organised instead of activities gathering many people like previous years (Photo: Vietnamplus)
With the message of 2020 "calling for change in consumer behavior," the turn- off the light event is still the focus of the Earth Hour Campaign, taking place from 20:30 to 21:30 on Saturday, March 28.
In addition, Earth Hour 2020 also calls for the commitments of governments, organisations, businesses and individuals to take action to reverse the negative impacts on biodiversity.
The program's activities contribute to promoting consumer behavior change initiatives such as saving energy, limiting the use of plastic products and saying no to wildlife consumption ... Through that, Vietnam together with the international community better implement the goals of responding to climate change, protecting the green planet.
Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu, Deputy Director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Sustainable Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, this year's event did not gather crowds for such as activities as cycling or Earth Hour Night off event in many major cities across the country.
Instead, there are online propaganda activities on websites of the event's organizers and sponsors such as WWF, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, related businesses ... and on social networks.
- Could you tell us the highlights of Earth Hour Campaign and the role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the above event?
Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu: With its experience in implementing Earth Hour Campaign during the past time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has collaborated with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Vietnam to develop action plans to respond to the Earth Hour 2020 campaign as well as to mobilise people across the country to participate in this campaign.
The ministry has also advised the WWF in developing focus activities on how to engage the community's interest. Since February 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued a document to launch the Earth Hour Campaign to all 63 provinces and centrally-run cities across the country as well as all state corporations and groups to call for their response to Earth Hour activities.
This year, due to the complicated development of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has noted that localities and businesses should choose the form of marking the Earth Hour Campaign in accordance with their conditions by strengthening communication through television, radio and especially through the Internet ...
- Saving energy has been an important content of Earth Hour for many years. So, with the message of Earth Hour 2020 calling for a change in consumer behavior, how does the Ministry of Industry and Trade implement specific solutions to respond to this message?
Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu: Energy-saving is the main purpose of Earth Hour campaign since 2009 until now. With the theme "Turn off the lights for an hour" (from 20:30 to 21:30 on March 28), it can be said that Vietnam has successfully deployed propaganda activities on energy saving through the Earth Hour campaign annually.
The issue of saving energy and electricity is still and will be an important and very hot topic at present and in the future.
In addition to responding to Earth Hour in recent years, the Ministry of Industry and Trade still mobilises people to use electricity and energy wisely, thereby reducing the costs of the family and businesses in electricity and energy consumption.
Also, it's worth mentioning that this year's Earth Hour theme also related to sustainable consumption.
In this Earth Hour campaign, the ministry is also interested in communicating through the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the website of the National Program on sustainable production and consumption as well as the Earth Hour Campaign's website and Fanpage.
- After an hour of turning off the lights in response to the Earth Hour Campaign, it can be seen that the amount of electricity saved is not much. So, in your opinion, what should we do to multiply the response of the community after this event?
Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu: This is also a problem that we have pondered over for many years when implementing Earth Hour Campaign. In one hour of turning off the light, normally the amount of energy saved is about 500,000 kWh..
The characteristic of this program is to turn off the lights at night, so mainly the electricity saved is coming from households turning off the lights, so it has not yet reflected the response of production businesses
If the campaign is implemented during peak hours, for example, then we can assess the participation of businesses, especially those that consume a lot of electricity.
However, with 500,000 kWh of electricity in an hour, it is also a very positive response from people and families.
Earth Hour's message to the community is not only to save electricity, save energy and protect the environment for an hour, but we must practice it regularly for 365 days of a year. I think the impact of Earth Hour Campaign has spread far and wide to social community and businesses.
- Thank you very much. /.