The Ministry of Industry and Trade yesterday organized a ceremony to launch annually environmental campaign Earth Hour 2016 in Hanoi with the attendance of over 3,000 students and activists.

Earth Hour 2016, themed ‘small action, big meaning,’ has taken place for ten years.

Vietnam will participate in switching off unnecessary lights and electric equipment within on hour from 8:30-9:30 on March 19. It is the eighth year the country attending the campaign.

According to statistics, the one hour lights out program helped Vietnam save millions of kilowatts of electricity a year, equivalent to billions of dong, from 2009-2015. This number has been increasing year by year.

On the same day in Ho Chi Minh City, Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper coordinated with authorized agencies to host a launching ceremony of Earth Hour 2016.

Besides successful projects last year, the campaign’s organization board revealed two new projects ‘Green destination’ and ‘Green home,’ which will contribute in spreading the campaign’s spirit to residents of different ages, careers and living environment.

Ms. Ly Viet Trung, deputy editor in chief of Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper and head of the campaign’s steering board in HCMC, said that Earth Hour 2015 marked a great development in not only saved energy output, but also the quality of activities under the campaign and its impact in increasing public awareness of environmental protection.

The program lured the attendance of 25,000 members of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and activists and the response of over 1,000 businesses.

Following the success, Earth Hour 2016 has attracted 5,000 activists registering to attend the campaign so far, which is a good sign showing the community’s increasing concern about environmental protection, added Ms. Viet Trung.

SGGP