On March 21, Samsung Electronics’ Digital City in Suwon, Korea and 51 global sales branches joined in the company’s ‘Turn Off Your Light’ campaign, which encourages switching off the lights for one hour to address issues surrounding climate change and electricity inequality.
The campaign was organized to precede the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)’s Earth Hour, which will be held on March 25. This year marks the 11th anniversary of the WWF campaign, which takes place for one hour starting at 8:30 p.m. on the last Saturday of March, and also raises climate change awareness.
Samsung Electronics’ Digital City headquarters in Suwon, Korea goes dark for the ‘Turn Off Your Light’ campaign.
Unlike the WWF event, Samsung elected to kick off its campaign on a weekday evening – to reduce office CO2 emissions – and encouraged employees to raise the issue of climate change at home with their families.
Held under the theme “Electricity I saved and donated to those suffering from electricity shortages,” Samsung’s campaign began at a sales branch in New Zealand, which was followed by branches in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Central and South America, and North America respectively. The amount of electric charge saved at these branches will be delivered, along with social welfare donations from Samsung Electronics, to regions in Indonesia that are suffering from electricity shortages.
Samsung’s lights-out campaign led to a reduction of approximately 8,000t of CO2 emissions and saw the company donate 1,400 LED lanterns to the residents of Tiom, a rural village in Indonesia’s Papua province. Now, Tiom’s residents may feel safer and freer at night without worrying about electricity shortages.
Soon-Sun Shim, Head of Samsung’s Global Customer Satisfaction Center, described the ‘Turn Off Your Light’ campaign as “a meaningful activity that emphasized the fact that we care about the environment and wish to help our neighbors around the world who suffer from electricity shortages.”
“We were able to make a difference with the help of our employees,” Mr. Shim continued. “We will continue to serve as a socially responsible corporate citizen by organizing activities that protect the Earth and help others.”
