DOHA, Qatar – To mark Earth Hour on 25 March 2017, Qatar Airways switched off the lights at its corporate headquarters between 8:30 and 9:30pm in an effort to encourage communities and individuals to come together to highlight the importance of combatting climate change. The airline created an internal awareness campaign to encourage participation of its staff at home and boost awareness of the global initiative.

Earth Hour, launched nine years ago, is the world’s largest movement aimed at bringing people together to protect the planet and highlight environmental issues. Every year, millions of people switch off their lights for one hour in an effort to recognise the importance of fighting climate change.

Speaking about the global initiative, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: “As part of our committment to sustainability, we participated in Earth Hour by turning off the lights at  our corporate headquarters. This is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of energy conservation. We hope that we have inspired our colleagues and communities to join us in switching off the lights to make a positive impact on combatting global climate change.”

Qatar Airways is a strong supporter of the environmental pillar of Qatar’s Vision for 2030, and has in place programmes to monitor and manage electricity consumption throughout its operations. The airline seeks to reduce its environmental footprint by investing in new technologies, making changes to operations, and raising awareness to change behaviours. One initiative to help manage electricity is a project to fit automatic timers to exterior building lights to ensure these are not left on during daylight hours. So far this year, a total of 87 timers have been fitted to 36 buildings with plans to continue the project throughout the coming year.