Expo 2020 Dubai plunges into darkness to mark Earth Hour 2022

Sixty pavilions turned off their lights for one minute each as a parade snaked through the site

An Earth Hour parade took place at Expo 2020 Dubai to honour Earth Hour 2022. All photos: Expo 2020 Dubai

The event was organised by Emirates Nature in association the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).

Visitors during the Earth Hour parade.

Earth Hour is a global event organised by the WWF and started in Sydney, Australia in 2007.

The Dubai Police Marching Band paraded through Ghaf Avenue in Expo 2020 Dubai’s Sustainability District.

With only days to go until Expo 2020 Dubai ends on Thursday, it marked Earth Hour 2022 on Saturday evening alongside the rest of the world.

Earth Hour is a global call to action organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature and started in Sydney, Australia in 2007.

It takes place at 8.30pm annually on the last Saturday of March, urging people around the world to switch off their lights and any unnecessary electronics for one hour.

Expo celebrated the occasion with a Switch Off Parade by the Dubai Police Marching Band, which went through Ghaf Avenue in the Sustainability District.

Scroll through the gallery above to see the parade.

Bagpipes could be heard, as a panda mascot tailed in the back, highlighting the creature's endangered status, and pavilions turned out their lights one by one as the parade went from Peru to UK between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.

Visitors looked on, with some waving WWF flags, before the facade of Terra — The Sustainability Pavilion and other pavilions in the district turned off their lights for one minute, to "highlight the importance of preserving energy and the world's natural resources," reads a press release.

Sixty of Expo’s pavilions joined in.

“It is apt to be carrying out this year’s event at Expo 2020 as it embodies the UAE’s vision of being at the forefront of sustainable development through innovation,” said Laila Mostafa Abdullatif, director-general of Emirates Nature-WWF, ahead of Earth Hour.

“Although Expo 2020 is coming to an end, the legacy of what has been built — the ideas, the co-operation, and the symbolism of the world in one place looking towards a prosperous future where people and planet collaboratively thrive — illuminates how we must move forward. We are proud to be powering down at Expo 2020 and playing a part in the symbolic lights-out movement.”

Expo's most popular souvenirs — in pictures: