Earth Hour is a global initiative organized by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) annually to draw public attention to nature loss and the climate crisis with a symbolic action – turn off non-essential lights for one hour on the last Saturday of March. Since its launch in Sydney back in 2007 when the Sydney Opera House was dimmed for an hour long, Earth Hour has been well received world-wide and expanded in participation to over 180 countries. In Viet Nam, Earth Hour was first organised in 2009 and has become a biggest environment movement with all cities and provinces participated. Many popular landmarks and private buildings turn off their lights to support the event. For Earth Hour 2021, with consideration for the ongoing health concerns, WWF has developed a 30-Days Challenge which will be hosted digitally to raise public awareness and to encourage everyone to make simple yet impactful actions.

Recognizing the potential to assist WWF in raising public awareness digitally for their Earth Hour Campaign, Savills Vietnam look forward to this partnership with WWF-Viet Nam to extend their reach and boost engagement for the event. Savills provide unique opportunities to promote the event effectively through popular social media channels with more than 45,000 followers and a diverse portfolio of around 100 managed properties, more than 300,000 residents, and a potential reach of over 1 million. Some of Savills’ notable managed properties include office buildings like Friendship Tower (HCMC) and Leadvisor Tower (Hanoi), popular commercial buildings such as Crescent Mall (HCMC), residential buildings such as King Palace (Hanoi) and Masteri Thao Dien (HCMC), as well as Savills’ Head Offices in Ha Noi and HCMC. Specifically, Savills will fully utilize media capabilities, including existing social media channels, to share WWF’s content and graphics. Savills is able to notify residents and tenants at managed projects through newsletters and the Property Cube app for residents, and display video content provided by WWF on our LED display screens located at each managed site. The program began on the 22nd of March and is anticipated to end on the 30th of April.

As an industry leader, Savills strive to adapt to the latest trends and industry practices. Recognizing the rising importance of a greener economy and the drive towards net zero carbon, Savills adopted the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) to make strategic improvements and follow the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) to stay aligned with and achieve high sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials. Ms. Tran Minh Ai, Senior Director, Property Management of Savills Vietnam shared “This exciting partnership with WWF-Vietnam displays our commitment to protect the living environment and to develop sustainably. Our hope is that the Earth Day 2021 campaign will be able to reach as many people as possible and stimulate positive change to be more environmentally friendly”. Commenting about the cooperation with Savills Vietnam as communication partner, “From growing the movement of Earth Hour to telling the world about it, our dedicated communications corporate partners have played a major role in making Earth Hour campaign always bigger and better than the last. For Earth Hour 2021, there has never been a stronger sense of urgency for support and action in our community, especially among businesses.” said Dr. Van Ngoc Thinh, Country Director of WWF- Viet Nam “We are more than happy to have Savills come on board with us this year and proud of the difference we together are able to make at a scale that matters.”

WWF-Viet Nam is one of the first in international non-government organizations to operate in Viet Nam. Since 1980s, WWF began working on a national conservation strategy and since then, has worked closely with the Vietnamese Government and local partners on a diverse range of environmental issues, implementing numerous field activities across the country.