Lights out to save the planet: all of Helaba's global offices will be taking part in this year's Earth Hour on 27 March 2021

Every one of Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen's 19 locations around the world is taking part in this year's Earth Hour.

In addition to the ten German locations, these are: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Stock­holm. Earth Hour is an annual event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to show support for protecting the climate and the environment. The idea behind it is sim­ple: once a year, millions of people around the world switch off their lights for one hour. 60 minutes of darkness - so that others can see the light. Many thousands of companies and cities also join in, switching off their office lights and shrouding their iconic buildings in darkness.

"By participating in Earth Hour, we are demonstrating our shared commitment to protect­ing the environment and combatting climate change as well as sending out a message of solidarity, particularly in these challenging times. We are proud of the fact that, for the first time ever, all 19 of Helaba's global locations will be taking part in the campaign," em­phasises Thomas Groß, Helaba's CEO. "Earth Hour is a prime example of how people from every part of the world are able to join forces to achieve a common goal. The only way we can have a global impact is by pooling our efforts and the financial services industry also has a vital contribution to make in the transformation towards sustainability."

It all started in Sydney in 2007. More than 2.2 million Australian households took part in the first Earth Hour on 31 March 2007 and switched off the lights in their homes for 60 minutes to show support for the planet. Since then, Earth Hour has become one of the world's largest global grassroots movements for the environment. The easiest way to par­ticipate in Earth Hour is to turn off your lights at exactly 8.30pm (local time) on 27 March 2021.