Press Releases

Budapest, March 27, 2008 16:45

Magyar Telekom was the first large Hungarian company to join the international campaign that strives to call people’s attention to the dangers of climate change. As part of the action, major buildings and large light posters of Magyar Telekom will turn dark for an hour on Saturday. Last autumn, the Company started a climate protection program for its employees; its primary target was to raise awareness and to facilitate a dialogue.

On March 29, the most important cities of the world –among others, Sydney, Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane, Tel Aviv and Manila – as well as smaller towns and villages from Aarlborg in Denmark to Suva on the Fiji Islands will participate in a joint action calling the attention of mankind to one of the greatest hazards endangering the world: the detrimental impacts of climate change. According to this idea, lights will be turned off for an hour at the participating settlements (cities, towns and villages) at 8 p.m. local time. This will be the “Earth Hour” campaign. A year ago, about 2.2 million people and 2100 companies switched off the lights in Sydney during the Earth Hour. In that hour, the energy consumption of Sydney decreased by 10.2%; this reduction could have been achieved otherwise by a one-hour disappearance of 48 000 cars from the streets and highways. “Earth Hour 2007” was an Australian event organized in Sydney at the initiative of WWF; this year’s Earth Hour will already be a global movement.

Magyar Telekom was the first large Hungarian company to join the international project of WWF. As part of the action, major buildings and large light posters of Magyar Telekom will turn dark for an hour on March 29, 2008 from 8 p.m. (except for locations that need to be illuminated for security reasons). Magyar Telekom joined the initiative with the intention to make concrete efforts for climate protection; at the same time, the Company (based on its size, importance and pole position in the infocommunications sector) wants to urge others to take similar actions. The day before the Earth Hour, the Company will screen Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” for the colleagues, their family and friends; this will be followed by a discussion (led by Péter Novák) on the topic with the participation of non-governmental organizations. As the timing of the film screening was primarily motivated by the Earth Hour, participants will get a small night-light as a gift reminding them of the event that will take place the following day; at the same time, this little light should encourage them to join the action personally, too.

Climate protection is one of the key topics of Magyar Telekom’s sustainability strategy, so this subject will surface not only for an hour in the Company’s life. Last autumn, the Company started a climate protection program for its employees; its primary target was to call the colleagues’ attention, raise their awareness to the problem and start a dialogue. In connection with CAPEX projects connected to climate protection, the Company has introduced open-air cooling methods at its basis stations; Magyar Telekom has operating heat pumps and hybrid vehicles have been added to its car pool. Since 2005, Magyar Telekom has been managing a joint initiative with WWF entitled “Climate protection – with the speed of light”; this is implemented in the framework of the European organization ETNO. In this program, infocommunications opportunities promoting climate protection are studied on a European level. As for the domestic initiatives, special mention must be made of the climate protection program “Take back!” (“Vegyél vissza!”) to be launched in the near future for young people aged 15–25; Magyar Telekom was one of the co-founders.