I am late in posting this article, which I started 3 weeks ago, but could not complete. Regret the delayed posting.

In Dubai, the Earth Hour celebration was organized by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF). Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has been organizing Earth Hour annually since 2008 in Dubai to raise awareness on conserving consumption of electricity, reduce carbon dioxide emission and environmental pollution. Dubai has achieved a remarkable reduction of carbon emissions and energy use during Earth Hour 2017. DEWA recorded a reduction of 244MW in energy use, compared to 22MW last year. This resulted in reducing 107 tonnes of carbon emissions compared to 11 tonnes last year.

At the beginning of the events, HE Dr. Thani  bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment toured the Earth Hour activities with HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA. Thousands of people participated in the Earth Hour Walk carrying environmentally-friendly candles and lanterns. As per the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, DEWA aims to provide 7% of Dubai's total power output from clean energy sources by 2020, 25% by 2030, and 75% by 2050.

From 2008 to 2016, Earth Hour has achieved cumulative savings of over 1800 megawatts (MW) of electricity, offsetting over 1000 tonnes of carbon emissions. On the demand side from consumers DEWA hopes to reduce consumption by 30% by 2030. The Dubai Plan 2021 aims to transform the Emirate into a smart, integrated, and connected city with sustainable resources, and DEWA's vision is to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility. Between 2009 and 2016, DEWA?s customers saved over 1.5 TW/h of electricity and 6.2 billion gallons of water helping offsetting around 831,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, which equates to planting 944,000 trees.

Held at the Bay Avenue Park in Downtown Dubai, the event saw hundreds of participants despite the rains. There were many environmental organizations from Dubai that had put up stalls at the Bay Avenue park. I am a member for the past 7 years in EEG (Emirates Environmental Group) which was one such regular participant in the Earth Hour events. This year all members had to submit a minimum of 10 Kgs of paper to participate in the "Paper Walk" during the Earth hour. For me this was the 7^th annual Earth Hour event that I have been participating without break.