Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 28, 2021: Dubai Festival City, the Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate’s fully integrated mega project, switched off power from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm yesterday to mark Earth Hour, a global annual event launched to encourage individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights to showcase their commitment towards planet Earth.

This year the UAE called for urgent action to set the loss of nature on the path for recovery and create further awareness about climate change. Dubai Festival City supported one of the largest global grassroots movements for the environment by switching off all non-essential interior and exterior light at their residential projects, Deira International School, Universal America School, Al Areesh Club, Festival Tower, hotels as well as Dubai Festival City Mall for one hour.

Marsa Plaza, Al Badia residences, Al Badia Hillside, Festival Tower, Al Areesh Club at Dubai Festival City turned off non-essential lights at its public areas such as carparks while common areas will have minimal lighting. Dubai Festival City also worked closely with its residents and tower tenants to switch off their lights at homes and offices for a wider reach of this initiative and create a greater positive impact towards sustainability.

Samer Zabian, Director, Residential & Commercial Property at Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, said: “At Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, our aim is to support the broader goals and strategic objectives of the UAE government. We have been a part of the Earth Hour initiative since 2018 which further showcases our strong commitment towards the planet we live in. There is a strong need to create awareness about climate change and act on it urgently. All our stakeholders including businesses, individual customers and governments worldwide have contributed towards creating a positive and sustainable tomorrow in order to build a healthy planet for our coming generations.”

InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental Residence Suites switched off all hotel façade lights, dimmed its lobby lights and shut down all unnecessary lights across its hotels. This initiative did not impact any in-house guests or visitors at the hotel during the event.

Dubai Festival City Mall also supported the event by dimming house lights. Deira International School and Universal American School, owned and operated by Al Futtaim Education Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation, joined the wider group and participated in the Earth Hour. A group of students from Universal American School shot an educational video throwing light on energy savings during Earth Hour.

For more information, please check out www.dubaifestivalcity.com.