The City of Tshwane has been selected as South Africa’s Earth Hour Capital 2016 for the second year in a row in recognition of its sustainability initiatives, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) regional director Kobie Brand announced during the second African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum, in Tshwane, on Tuesday.

“ICLEI Africa is proud to be working closely with the World Wide Fund for Nature on the implementation of the Earth Hour City Challenge to assist municipalities in creating more sustainable communities,” she said.

Speaking to Engineering News Online, Earth Hour project facilitator Irina Velasco said Tshwane was selected because it had a strong commitment to reducing its carbon emissions by 2030 and was focused on increasing its renewable-energy uptake.

“This is especially visible in terms of increasing renewable-energy access for both government operations and for the community,” she said.

She noted that the Earth Hour Capital competition was a platform for cities to showcase their strategies and actions regarding carbon emission reduction and renewable-energy implementation.

“Cities are assessed according to how their plans complement the targets they have set for themselves. They must target the right sectors and, in the case of Tshwane, those sectors include industry and transport,” she said, highlighting that the city had taken a proactive approach that addressed its environmental challenges.

Some of the actions taken by the city included the launch of the Tshwane Food and Energy Centre‚ which created sustainable livelihoods‚ and produced food and renewable-energy, along with interventions for green transport by the city such as the active promotion of cycling‚ the investment in electric vehicle and solar charging stations‚ a bus rapid transit system and a fleet of clean buses.

“The city also entered into an agreement with biogas company Bio2Watt and BMW, where energy produced through a biogas digester is wheeled through the Tshwane grid to contribute [to meeting] BMW’s [power requirements]. The energy is produced from cattle manure and other forms of food waste,” she said.

Following a review of 41 finalist cities, Tshwane had also been selected as one of 13 eligible cities for the Global Earth Hour Capital title, which would be announced at the United Nations-Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, in October.