News Room

Saturday, 31 March, 2007 saw one hour of near blackness in Sydney, Australia. This world first was a joint initiative of WWF-Australia and The Sydney Morning Herald. HSBC was one of over 2,000 businesses who committed to take part in the initiative.

The symbolic one hour of darkness was a simple action that involved an entire community and helped to send a powerful message of awareness and concern about the environment. The result was a 10.2% reduction in electricity usage during the hour - leading to a reduction of more than 24 tonnes of CO₂. If this message were extended into daily practice for Australia’s commercial sector - switching off unneeded lights and using cost effective lighting technology - lighting emissions could be reduced by up to 80%.

HSBC building on Saturday, 3 March

HSBC building on Saturday, 31 March. The few lights belong to business areas which operate 24 hours; they did consolidate into as few areas as possible.