At a ceremony in Vancouver, Canada, on 27 March 2015, WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) awarded Coimbatore as the National Earth Hour Capital for India; Cape Town, South Africa was awarded the Global Earth Hour Capital 2014. Over 160 cities from 14 countries joined the competition, more than double the participation from last year. This year, the jury paid particular attention to each city’s level of ambition and innovation for low carbon development in relation to the local context. The other National Capitals are Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Brussels Capital Region, Belgium; Chicago, The United States; Copenhagen, Denmark; Edmonton, Canada; Lappeenranta, Finland; Mexico City, Mexico; Monteria, Colombia; Muangklang, Thailand; Semarang, Indonesia; Seoul, South Korea; Stockholm, Sweden. 

With its long daylight hours and high investment in technology, Coimbatore is well placed to become a true Solar Power City. Solar cookers in schools and plans for a new 5MW solar plant are just one part of the picture: the city has great community, waste and energy programs too. 

The City Challenge also invited people around the globe to voice their support for renewable energy and for the 33 green city finalists through the social media platform We Love Cities. The online voting campaign collected more than 300,000 votes from people who truly love their cities and want to see them become more sustainable. Tied for first place were Medellin, Colombia and Khunhan, Thailand. Both cities successfully engaged their citizens in contributing votes and online feedback, including hundreds of suggestions on how their lovable cities can be even more sustainable. 

Visit Carbonn Cities Climate Registry for more information on what these cities are doing to develop sustainably and to transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. 

For further information on ICLEI South Asia’s Earth Hour City Challenge activities, visit:

http://southasia.iclei.org/our-goals/low-carbon-city/earth-hour-city-challenge/