Earth Hour turns ten

UEFA is once again championing WWF's Earth Hour, the global environmental movement which it has supported since 2009 and which unites people to protect the planet.

This year's Earth Hour will be celebrated on Saturday 25 March between 8.30pm and 9.30pm local time. Established ten years ago, the event now brings together millions of individuals, businesses and organisations in over 7,000 cities and more than 170 countries and territories.

Last year, UEFA mobilised football players to show their support for Earth Hour and act as role models to raise awareness about climate change. This time, we will be operating a UEFA social media black-out during 'the hour'.

Primarily by encouraging people to switch off the lights in a symbolic show of global support, Earth Hour puts the focus on climate action and empowers individuals, organisations, cities and countries to use their collective strength to act on climate change all year round.

Taking the environment into consideration is important to UEFA. The most recent example was UEFA EURO 2016, as UEFA made efforts to minimise the footprint of the tournament and thus leave a positive impact. This meant controlling the tournament's impact on its environment – through privileging public transport and waste and energy management, as well as prioritising the local sourcing of sustainable products and services. 

WWF has been a UEFA social responsibility partner for a number of years. UEFA backs the WWF Global Campaign on Renewable Energy to help tackle climate change. Reciprocally, WWF has provided UEFA with expert input on defining sustainable bidding criteria for future football competitions and championships, and recommendations for flight carbon compensation policy and partners.

Click here to find out more about WWF Earth Hour, to get inspired, or to think about joining the movement.

Photo: Ottmar Hitzfeld GsponArena in Switzerland, the highest football pitch in Europe at over 2,000 metres above sea level