Environment charity WWF organised the Earth Hour event which saw iconic buildings such as Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, BFI Imax, the London Eye, the Gherkin, Edinburgh castle, Brighton Pier, Westminster abbey, Durham cathedral, Old Trafford, Canterbury cathedral, Windsor Castle and Tewkesbury abbey blacking out for an hour.
The event, which took place at 8.30pm local time around the world, started in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.
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Gone dark: Times Square in New York City turns off the lights for Earth Hour
Electronic billboards stand dark (R) on Times Square as their lights were turned off too mark "Earth Hour" in New York
The Empire State Building, left, and parts of Chicago, right, also took part
To call on governments to pledge their commitments to climate change the lights were turned out at landmarks like London's Big Ben and Taiwan's 101 building in Taipei
Sydney Opera House is seen before the lights are switched off to recognize Earth Hour in Australia to raise awareness about climate change and to show support for the use of renewable energy
The Opera House is seen after the lights were switched to 'GreenPower' and glowed dark green to recognize Earth Hour
Organisers in Britain sought to beat the record of seven million people who took part last year.
A live event was streamed by WWF-UK from the Southbank in London featuring an acoustic performance from pop band McFly, who did the Harlem Shake in panda onesies to launch the campaign.
Recordings of Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories were made by Kevin McCloud, Miranda Richardson and Alistair McGowan and celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay, Raymond Blanc and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall created special recipes for families to prepare and eat by candlelight.
The aim is to highlight the charity's call on governments, organisations and individuals to pledge their commitment to tackling climate change.
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.
The Eiffel tower blended in to the Paris skyline as its illumination was extinguished to mark Earth Hour to raise awareness about tackling climate change
The China World Trade Centre Tower III (left) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (right) before Earth Hour (top, and during Earth Hour (bottom)
South Korean students held an Earth Hour LED display during the 7th annual Earth Hour global warming campaign in Seoul
The Cathedral of Saint Sava in Belgrade before and after submerging into darkness as a symbolic show of support for the planet
The following year, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating.
As well as people in 7,001 cities cities taking part this year, other landmarks which stood in darkness for the hour included the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, Granada's Alhambra in Spain, Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Athens' Acropolis in Greece, India Gate in New Delhi, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and Sydney's Opera House.
CEO and co-founder, Andy Ridley, said at the launch of Earth Hour 2013 in Singapore: 'People from all walks of life, from all nations around the world, are the lifeblood of the Earth Hour interconnected global community.
'They have proven time and time again that if you believe in something strongly enough, you can achieve amazing things. These stories aren't unique, this is happening all over the world.'
Worldwide blackout: The world largest LCD screen at a shopping mall in Beijing and the entrance to Sydney's Luna Park were switched off to raise awareness
The financial Central District of Hong Kong showed support for Earth Hour by descending into darkness at 8.30pm for 60 minutes
As part of Earth Hour 2013 people around the world were asked to turn off the lights for an hour and South Korean students held candles in Seoul to mark the occasion
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