Hue City in the central province of Thue Thien - Hue was honoured as the National Green City 2016 under a vote campaign initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at a ceremony in the central city on June 28.

A bird's-eye view of Hue city.

Director of WWF – Vietnam Van Ngoc Thinh said the WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge programme aims to call on cities around the world to act towards a climate-friendly planet and develop action plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

In 2016, 128 cities from 21 countries and territories, including Hue City, participated in the WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge.

The city, participating for the first time was among 18 contenders across the world shortlisted in the final round of the campaign.

The French “City of Light” of Paris is recognised as this year’s Global Earth Hour Capital.

Hue has undertaken some low-carbon development actions. The city is running a project aiming at reducing carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

The efforts include planting more trees, promoting green tourism, improving waste and wastewater treatment and management, using a smart public lighting system, renewable energy and environmentally-friendly building materials.

VNA