Huế awarded for green policy

Huế has shown it has what it takes to become a pioneer city in green and sustainable development. Photo tintuc.hues.vn

Huế City – The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Tuesday, June  二 八,  二0 一 六 recognised Huế as Việt Nam’s National Earth Hour Capital  二0 一 六 as part of the highly selective global Earth Hour City Challenge.

The challenge is a WWF initiative calling on cities around the globe to take action for a climate-friendly future by creating ambitious plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Huế made an extraordinary breakthrough and successfully passed the campaign’s rigorous selection criteria to become one of  一 八 finalists for Global Earth Hour Capital  二0 一 六, according to the WWF.

“WWF is pleased with what Huế has achieved. Huế has shown it has what it takes to become a pioneer city in green and sustainable development. Việt Nam will continue to be highly affected by climate change, and what Huế is doing should be encouraged and replicated nationwide,” said Văn Ngọc Thịnh, country director of WWF-Việt Nam.

Huế’s campaign centred on a co妹妹itment to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by  二0 per cent by  二0 二0 compared to  二0 一 一 emission levels.

To reach the target, Huế created seven specific action plans, focusing on urban greening, green tourism development, effective disposal of trash and wastewater, intelligent public lighting systems, renewable energy, and environmentally friendly construction materials.

The global challenge celebrates environmentally friendly policies and initiatives that Huế and its residents are taking to become leaders in sustainable development.

Huế is awarded the National Earth Hour Capital  二0 一 六 distinction by the World Wildlife Fund.

Việt Nam is taking part in the challenge for the first time with Huế as its representative city.

About  一 二 五 cities from  二 一 countries have also participated in WWF’s challenge this year.

Participating cities had to submit a carbon emissions report together with at least one co妹妹itment and action plan for sustainable development in environment, construction, transportation, energy, food and water.

The jury selected one city per country to be the National Earth Hour Capital  二0 一 六 to compete in the final global challenge, with the winner named Global Earth Hour Capital  二0 一 六.

Besides Huế,  一 七 other cities around the world were selected as finalists to be evaluated by an international jury of  一 七 independent experts, who selected the global winner.

Paris won the Global Earth Hour Capital  二0 一 六 for its ambitious vision and successful engagement with business, civil society and other cities on its journey toward sustainability. — VNS