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The Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) is a WWF initiative calling on cities around the globe to take action for a climate-friendly future by developing and rolling out ambitious plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change. One hundred and twenty five cities from 21 countries participated in WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge in 2016. Vietnam took part in the challenge for the first time with Hue as its representative city.

To participate, cities must have a Carbon Emission Report together with at least one commitment and action plan for sustainable development in environment, construction, transportation, energy, food and water. Based on that, the EHCC jury selects one city per country to be the National Earth Hour Capital 2016 and continue on to compete in the final global challenge. The winner is awarded the title Global Earth Hour Capital 2016.

Though participating for the first time, Hue made an extraordinary breakthrough and  successfully passed the campaign’s rigorous selection criteria to become one of 18 finalists for Global Earth Hour Capital 2016. Hue’s campaign centered on a commitment to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared to 2011 emission levels. To reach this target, Hue created seven specific action plans, focusing on urban greening, green tourism development, effective disposal of trash and wastewater, intelligent public lighting systems, renewable energy and environmentally friendly construction materials.

“Being awarded the National Earth Hour Capital 2016 by WWF is great honor for the government and the residents of the city. Green growth, with a sound foundation and Hue’s unique characteristics, was integrated in the policies and strategies developed by the provincial government.” “Along with being voted ‘ASEAN City of Culture’ and ‘Environmental Sustainability City’ by ASEAN in 2014, the National Earth Hour Capital 2016 is a great encouragement, but also requires high commitment from the city’s government and residents toward developing a sustainable future. We will work together to make Hue not only the national green city but also the global green city.” Said Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, the Chairman of Thua Thien Hue People’s Committee. “We commit to making Hue a safe place with high quality of life, a reliable friend of other cities and you. We will strive to become a city with a green environment, friendly citizens, and people-centered governance, with social-economic development goals considering environmental protection and preserving our rich cultural history.”

Alongside Hue, 17 other cities around the world were selected as finalists to be evaluated by the international jury of 17 independent experts, who selected the global winner. Paris - the “City of Light”- won the Global Earth Hour Capital 2016 for its ambitious vision and successful engagement with business, civil society and other cities on its journey toward sustainability.

“WWF is pleased with what Hue has achieved. Hue has shown it has what it takes to become a pioneer city in green and sustainable development. Vietnam as a country is currently and will continue to be highly impacted by climate change, and what Hue is doing should be encouraged and replicated nationwide. WWF is proud to partner with Hue’s government and residents in this development journey.” said Mr. Thinh Van Ngoc, WWF-Vietnam Country Director.

Other National Earth Hour Cities included Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Boulder, USA; Chiang Rai, Thailand; Edmonton, Canada; Hue City, Vietnam; Jakarta, Indonesia; Lappeenranta, Finland; Montería, Colombia; Murcia, Spain; Petaling Jaya, Malaysia; Quito, Ecuador; Rajkot, India; Santa Rosa, Philippines; Shenzhen, China; City of Singapore, Singapore; Tshwane, South Africa and Umeå, Sweden.

On 30 June, WWF will announce the winner of the We Love Cities campaign – the public engagement arm of the Earth Hour City Challenge – on welovecities.org and through social media. The We Love Cities campaign engages citizens around the world to express their support for cities committed to sustainability through votes, tweets and Instagram pictures.