The Covenant of Mayors Initiative: An Assessment and Evaluation

Local governments play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change, all the more so when considering that 80 % of energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is associated with urban activity. The Covenant of Mayors (CoM) is the mainstream European movement involving local authorities, voluntarily committing to meet and exceed the European Union 20 % CO2 reduction objective by 2020 by increasing energy efficiency and through the use of renewable energy sources on their territories. In order to achieve its CO2 reduction objective, a city that signs the CoM commits to a number of actions such as: to prepare a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI); to submit a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP); to adapt city structures in order to undertake the necessary actions, and to mobilise the civil society in their respective geographical areas to take part in implementing the Action Plan. A regular Monitoring of Emission Inventories in which progress towards target is measured is also required. Finally signatories of CoM have to submit an action report at least every second year after submission of the Action Plan. So far, over 5000 cities have signed up to participate in the CoM and over 3000 cities have submitted their SEAPs. 1850 SEAP have been analysed and approved. The paper presents the evaluation of the CoM intiative after 5 years, including the expansion of the scheme to ex-CIS countries and North Africa.

BERTOLDI Paolo;  MELICA Giulia;  ZANCANELLA Paolo;  KONA Albana;  JANSSENS-MAENHOUT Greet;  IANCU Andreea;  GANISHEVA Krasimira;  CERUTTI Alessandro;  RIVAS CALVETE Silvia; 

2015-01-23

ACEEE

JRC89398

https://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2014/data/papers/10-568.pdf,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC89398,