Covenant of Mayors Guidebook Complementary document 1
The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy – Europe (CoM EU) is the largest European initiative for local climate and energy action. Through the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (CoM) framework, cities voluntarily commit to tackling climate change, and thus pursuing and advancing the commitments of national governments at the local scale.
To ensure sound and effective climate action planning, implementation and monitoring, the CoM guidebook provides cities with relevant context, objectives, methodological principles, procedures, data sources and examples to develop a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP). This document is part of the CoM guidebook, and it provides detailed guidance on how to prepare greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories under the CoM framework, which are a key part of a SECAP.
The CoM GHG accounting framework draws on the main CoM principles of promoting the quality, consistency, transparency and comparability of data, while ensuring flexibility to meet local and regional circumstances and needs. In brief, GHG emission inventories within the CoM are prepared with activity data collected and processed covering a range of sectors, mainly on energy use, which is then combined with emission factors to estimate GHG emissions. GHG emission inventories are key for informing climate change mitigation action but also for monitoring and showcasing cities’ progress and achievements. Transparent planning, monitoring and communication of results is key in multilevel governance and increases the understanding, credibility and uptake of climate change mitigation action across all key stakeholders, including the general public, national governments and industry and business communities, among others.
This document first describes the CoM general approach to preparing GHG inventories, including key concepts, scope and boundary selection, and methodological choices. Then, it details the main steps of preparing a GHG emission inventory under the CoM framework, and it provides technical guidance on activity data collection and treatment, including potential data sources and methodological alternatives, and on calculations used to estimate the associated GHG emissions.
BASTOS Joana;
BEZERRA Paula;
DAVIDE Marinella;
HERNANDEZ MORAL Gema;
MELICA Giulia;
2025-09-03
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC142296
978-92-68-28820-7 (online),
978-92-68-28821-4 (print),
1831-9424 (online),
1018-5593 (print),
EUR 40363,
EUR 40363 (print),
OP KJ-01-25-346-EN-N (online),
OP KJ-01-25-346-EN-C (print),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC142296,
10.2760/9321889 (online),
10.2760/5701738 (print),
