Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (2017-2020)

Launched in 2008, the Covenant of Mayors is the world’s largest movement for local climate and energy actions.

Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (2017-2020)

The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy brings together local and regional authorities voluntarily committing to implementing the EU’s climate and energy objectives on their territory. This unique bottom-up movement, which started in 2008 with the support of the European Commission, now counts over 7,700 signatories.

In 2015, the initiative took on new objectives: the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy steps up the initial CO2-reduction commitment and includes adaptation to climate change. Signatory local authorities share a vision for making cities decarbonised and resilient, where citizens have access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy. They commit to developing Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans for 2030 and to implementing local climate change mitigation and adaptation activities.

Signatory cities pledge action to support implementation of the EU 40% greenhouse gas-reduction target by 2030 and the adoption of a joint approach to tackling mitigation and adaptation to climate change. In order to translate their political commitment into practical measures and projects, Covenant signatories commit to submitting, within two years following the date of the local council decision, a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) outlining the key actions they plan to undertake. The plan will feature a Baseline Emission Inventory to track mitigation actions and a Climate Risks and Vulnerability Assessment. The adaptation strategy can either be part of the SECAP or developed and mainstreamed in a separate planning document. This bold political commitment marks the beginning of a long-term process with cities committed to reporting every two years on the implementation progress of their plans.

The Global Covenant of Mayors is capitalising on the experience gained over the past eight years in Europe and beyond, and is building upon the key success factors of the initiative: its bottom-up governance, its multi-level cooperation model and its context-driven framework for action.

FEDARENE is part of the consortium running the Covenant of Mayors Office, together with 5 other European networks of local and regional authorities: Energy Cities, Climate Alliance, Eurocities, CEMR and ICLEI Europe. FEDARENE participates in defining the strategy behind the initiative and has been actively involved in mobilising regions and energy agencies around Europe, through promotion, a continuous helpdesk, events and seminars, conferences and exchange of best practices.

Provinces, regions and energy agencies are key to the success of the initiative, notably in terms of:
• The promotion they do of the Covenant in their territory;
• Increasing the organisation’s capacities by providing decentralised support on the ground and ensuring tailored interaction with signatories;
• The support provided to signatories including technical assistance;
• Mobilising other stakeholders – such as associations, private companies and universities.

In the news

Local empowerment needed for increased investments in clean energy

The two members of the European Covenant of Mayors Board - President of FEDARENE and Mayor of Sevilla - met on July 18th to discuss common challenges and opportunities in the clean energy transition efforts at local level.

Covenant Cities in the Spotlight: 1st call for applications!

In the 10th year of the initiative, the Covenant of Mayors wishes to reward signatories that have been working within the Covenant framework and achieving remarkable progress in their local energy and climate action.

10 years of the Covenant of Mayors

The EU Covenant of Mayors is the world's largest movement for local climate action and energy transition, bringing together more than 9,200 local and regional authorities across the Europe, determined to take action to help meeting the EU climate and energy objectives.

A new website for the Covenant of Mayors!

For a great start into this new year, we are delighted to welcome you on the brand new EU Covenant of Mayors website!

Nicosia is heading towards achieving sustainability in 2020 by changing 100% of street lighting with LED

The Nicosia municipality (capital of Cyprus) has launched an open Green public procurement to upgrade its street lighting, leading to approximately 150.000 tonnes CO2 avoided per year.

Follow-up on the Covenant of Mayors workshop in Bucharest – 7 November 2017

More than 70 participants joined the ´Energy Transition and Climate Mitigation : Local strategies and Support Policies´ workshop. Watch the videos and download the presentations.

Best Practices

Supporting Walloon local authorities in their work for Energy Transition

Supporting Walloon local authorities in their work for Energy Transition

From 2012 to 2017, Wallonia has supported the commitment of municipalities to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy – Europe through the Climate and Energy Policy Programme (POLLEC) implying a number of missions including financial support to the municipalities but also the development and implementation of their Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans.