Climate change mitigation and adaptation at local level
Cities and local authorities are key players in addressing climate change. Since 2008, the European Commission endorses and supports their efforts through the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (CoM) and notably through the provision of capacity building, technical assistance, sharing of best practices and peer learning opportunities. The initiative helps consolidate practices to monitor and report on energy consumption and GHG emissions as well as on risks and vulnerabilities at the local level, allowing decision makers to identify priority sectors, set emission reduction targets and adaptation goals and plan relevant measures.
This report provides a scientific assessment of the CoM pillars of climate change mitigation and adaptation, based on data reported through the MyCovenant reporting platform. It describes the Covenant community, the plans submitted by signatories, examines actions and measures and gives an overview on the progress made.
On mitigation, looking only at 412 action plans with at least one monitoring report, a 30.9% reduction by 2030 is forecasted, while the targeted mean reduction is 44.6%.
On adaptation, several vulnerable population groups including the elderly, persons living with chronic diseases, low-income households, and persons living in sub-standard housing, are exposed to climate hazards. Signatories report high-risk hazards (such as extreme heat, droughts & water scarcity, heavy precipitation and floods & sea level rise) that affect 33.3 million people.
MELICA Giulia;
TREVILLE Aldo;
FRANCO DE LOS RIOS Camilo;
PALERMO Valentina;
MONFORTI-FERRARIO Fabio;
BALDI Marta Giulia;
ULPIANI Giulia;
ORTEGA HORTELANO Alejandro;
BARBOSA Paulo;
BERTOLDI Paolo;
2022-11-11
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC130957
978-92-76-58819-1 (online),
1831-9424 (online),
EUR 31291 EN,
OP KJ-NA-31-291-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130957,
10.2760/930988 (online),
