Earth Hour receives strong support from MAF Shopping Malls

Earth Hour is an international initiative that urges households and businesses to reduce electricity consumptions by switching off non-essential lighting and appliances for one hour to promote energy conservation and draw attention to global climate change. The campaign is spearheaded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

On Saturday, seven operating malls in the MAF Shopping Malls portfolio participated in the global effort and urged their customers to respect the global environmental effort. For safety reasons, however, the malls operated essential lighting throughout the Earth Hour.

The malls participating in the campaign included Mall of the Emirates, Deira City Centre, Sharjah City Centre and Ajman City Centre (all in the UAE), Muscat City Centre (Oman), Alexandria City Centre and Maadi City Centre (both in Egypt).

Shahram Shamsaee, Senior Vice-President, MAF Shopping Malls, commented: "Earth Hour is a fantastic way for us to highlight this important message and do our bit to create a better understanding about global warming."

He said that the activity helped in creating awareness among both tenants and more importantly, among the millions of customers who visit the malls every day. "During weekends, and especially on Saturday evenings, the malls experience one of their busiest periods. By supporting the Earth Hour during a busy time, we were able to spread the message among a larger number of people," he pointed out.