Vote for Lappeenranta in WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge

Vote for Lappeenranta in WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge

Lappeenranta is competing alongside 44 other finalist cities to become the people’s favourite in WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge that is designed to spur cities to take action to prevent climate change. Lappeenranta is the only Finnish city participating this year. The voting period starts on 26 April and lasts until 19 June.

The actual winner of the challenge is selected by a jury, but the public also get to vote for their favourite city and share their good practices on social media. To vote for Lappeenranta and tell your ideas for making the city even better, go to welovecities.org/lappeenranta. Share what you love about Lappeenranta on social media: #weloveLappeenranta.

Director Ilkka Räsänen of Lappeenranta Region Environmental Office hopes that Lappeenranta will receive votes from its residents and the residents of the region, as well as from Finnish people around the country.

– Lappeenranta is the National Earth Hour Capital of Finland. This title was given to us by WWF Finland in 2014, when Lappeenranta was one of the 14 finalists of that year’s Earth Hour City Challenge. As a member of the network of Finnish carbon neutral municipalities, HINKU, we are promoting the climate protection work done by the network and in Finland overall.

Räsänen urges people to share their experiences of, for example, commuting to work by bike or participating in cycling events via the social media.

– An exceptionally high number of cycling-related events have been organised in Lappeenranta this summer. For example, bike tours are organised for groups to visit architectural sites and churches. South Karelia’s scenic routes along the shores of Lake Saimaa, which are famous throughout the country, also deserve to be complimented, Räsänen suggests.

He hopes that people will also share their experiences of local food and recycling.

– Local food can be bought at market squares or grown on your own balcony. An excellent way to promote recycling is to shop at the flea markets held at Lappeenranta’s market square on Sundays.

Experiences can be shared by describing one’s environmentally friendly actions under a specific theme. The themes are food (2–6 May), Traffic, mobility and transport (9–13 May), Energy (16–20 May), Waste management (23–27 May) and Buildings (30 May – 3 June).

A total of 124 cities from 20 countries participated in WWF's Earth Hour City Challenge 2016, and 45 cities were selected for the final.

The international jury was particularly impressed by Lappeenranta's efforts to make the city waste-free and carbon-neutral by 2050.

Secretary General of WWF Finland Liisa Rohweder finds the progress that has been made in Lappeenranta promising. Lappeenranta has already reduced its emissions by 38% from the 1990 level. The next step is to reduce the emissions by 80% from the 2007 level by 2030, in accordance with the HINKU network of carbon neutral municipalities.

"Lappeenranta has set consistent, long-term goals and has already shown that it is prepared to achieve those goals on time. Smooth cooperation with the residents, local businesses and universities has been one of the keys to the success," Rohweder says.

Further information

http://www.welovecities.org

Director Ilkka Räsänen, Lappeenranta Region Environmental Office, tel. +358 400 815 284
ilkka.rasanen@lappeenranta.fi