TELECOMMUNICATIONS company Digicel will join millions of companies and households across the world this evening in powering down in observance of Earth Hour.

The company will switch off the lights and unplug non-essential devices and equipment at its Jamaica and group offices in New Kingston for one hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

Earth Hour takes place a week after the vernal equinox, when the seasons change, and it is dark at 8:30 pm local time in both the northern and southern hemispheres, so that people anywhere and everywhere can participate.

While the actual hour is a symbolic call to action on climate change and not intended as an energy-saving measure, event organisers are asking people to “go beyond the hour” and take meaningful steps to reduce their energy consumption after the lights go back on.

Organisers of the event, the World Wildlife Fund, said people in 131 countries have registered to participate in the event. The first Earth Hour was observed in 2007.

Commenting on the initiative yesterday, Digicel head of facilities management and emergency services, Donovan Betancourt said that the company takes the business of the protection and conservation of the environment very seriously.

One of the company’s flagship stores, Anbell on Knutsford Boulevard, electronic screens and the Anbell store will also be powered down during Earth Hour.

Said Betancourt: “Digicel is delighted to be a part of this initiative… We have implemented several strategies in our business to take a ‘greener’ and more responsible approach to the protection of the environment in which we live.”

This initiative comes months after the telecoms company announced that its future headquarters in downtown Kingston will be the greenest building in the Caribbean. The building will contain ground-breaking conservation devices such as solar panels, sensor taps, wind turbines and others that are all geared at energy conservation.