Lights out in Wharf for Earth Hour
Several lights on Canary Wharf's glittering skyline will blink out for an hour on Saturday (March 28).
Wharf tenants are among the organisations getting involved with the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour, which will see 2,398 cities in 83 countries switch off their lights at 8.30pm local time.
The event is expected to be the world's largest gesture on climate change to date.
Estate landlord Canary Wharf Group admitted it "can't ensure a blackout" in the 24-hour finance and media centre, but it has written to all tenants to encourage them to take part.
Peter Kyte, managing director of subsidiary Canary Wharf Management Ltd, said: "Some lighting is essential.
"For example many employees of our media, financial services and retail occupiers will be busy working on Saturday night.
"However we as a company will be switching off all of our non-essential lighting on the few floors we control, and we encourage other companies at Canary Wharf to do the same.
"Canary Wharf is a very busy place and we can't ensure a blackout, but we can ask our occupiers to get involved."
HSBC invited WWF to use six floors of its offices earlier this month to encourage staff to sign up, and aims to extinguish lights at its Canada Square and St James' Park offices.
Neighbour Citigroup confirmed it would be switching off its lights in its Canary Wharf offices, as well as in 33 other locations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Carluccio's Cafe in Reuters Plaza will crank up the romance by replacing its lights with candles. And Barclays will even be restricting access to its Churchill Place HQ between 8pm and 9.45pm to ensure workers do not power up the energy saving lighting.
A spokeswoman said: "There will be an announcement just beforehand to make sure that the company makes the best contribution possible to this event.
"But obviously if someone is stuck working they will be allowed to stay."
Go to earthhour.org
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