Covenant of Mayors
(Document prepared by the European Commission – DG TREN)
Definition
Priority 9 in the Energy Efficiency Action Plan: A “Covenant of Mayors” will be created by the
Commission in 2007 bringing together in a permanent network the mayors of 20-30 of Europe's largest
and most pioneering cities. The aim is to exchange and apply best practices thereby improving energy
efficiency significantly in the urban environment, where local policy decisions and initiatives are
important, including transport.
Context (1)
Although there are relevant differences in the Member States, municipalities are fully or partially in
charge of:
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City planning, local building regulations and making permits for new construction and
rehabilitation dependent on the compliance with technical requirements, including energy
performance and installation of renewable energy
Urban transport, including traffic management, parking, vehicle fleets and management of
urban transport companies
Street lighting, traffic lighting, …
Management of their own building stock, usually including schools
Public lighting, public information systems
Local taxation, including taxes on buildings and often on vehicles
Quite often, management of local energy utilities
Social housing policies, district heating, fuel poverty policies
Administration of grants and/or local fiscal advantages (potentially) for sustainable energy
measures …
Municipalities have the unique capacity of undertaking broad initiatives putting together disparate
sectors and stakeholders, as demonstrated throughout the radical transformations of cities like London
or Barcelona at the occasion of key projects such as the Olympic Games.
Besides, municipalities are the first contact point between the citizen and the administration. Their role
in communication and information activities is crucial, and often more effective than
EU/national/regional initiatives. Finally, according to Mr. Clinton's statement at the C40 summit, cities
use about 75% of the final energy demand and generate 75% of CO2 emissions. Municipalities are
necessary partners in the fight against climate change. The impact of measures taken in one big city
like London is much more important than the effect on several Member States put together.
Context (2)
The approach below has been developed considering the following:
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The Covenant must provide added value over existing activities. There are many such
initiatives (C40, European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign, Aalborg Commitments,
etc.), consisting mostly of statements on intentions, but none of them implies a formal
commitment in terms of objectives. Therefore the best way of getting ahead is by fixing goals
in terms of energy efficiency (and renewable energy eventually)
The Covenant should deliver: the objectives should be ambitious and go well beyond a
business as usual scenario. The selection of the cities should be made on the basis of their
ambitions, in relation to their respective present situations. Otherwise, the selected cities
would have little incentive to join the Covenant.
If the Covenant includes just a close list of renowned cities, the emulation effect in other cities
would be lost. An open architecture, enticing other cities to join the Covenant at a later stage,
when they are ready to commit to energy objectives, looks more effective in terms of impact.
A strong promotional and communication effort should be foreseen. The public recognition of
the pioneering cities should pay in political terms.
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We should work step by step, exploring first what are the actual expectations of mayors and
how far we could meet their expectations with reasonable resources allocation.
Proposed definition
At term, the Mayors of a number of cities should commit, within the scope of their competence,
to meet or exceed certain energy objectives, related to the Energy for a Changing World
package: increasing their energy efficiency by 20% or more, having a relevant share of RES in the
local energy mix, reduction of CO2 emissions as a consequence of both by at least 20% (30% if
relevant third countries go for CO2 limits).
They also commit to help each other by exchanging good practice.
The precise definition of such objectives is to be done after holding discussions with interested cities
and networks of cities, according to the planning below.
The Mayors also express their willingness to spread the message to other cities and invite them to join
the Covenant at any time, providing that the other cities are willing to commit to the Covenant
framework.
The Commission recognises their role as pioneering cities setting the way for a sustainable energy
landscape in Europe and provides support to the Covenant, mostly for networking, co-ordination, upfollowing progress, setting up benchmarking mechanisms and promotion of the Covenant, through the
Intelligent Energy Europe Programme (Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign).
The Covenant of Mayors would include a number of Annexes providing examples of best practice.
Those annexes would be Concerto (the benchmark for newly constructed and rehabilitated urban
areas), Civitas (for clean urban transport), ManagEnergy (for local energy expert teams and for energy
education), and possibly others. Those initiatives would from that moment on liaise closely with the
Covenant cities, so killing two birds with one shot: accomplishing their vocation to disseminate
successful technologies and methodologies and offering a service to the Covenant cities.
Resources
This approach relies on the voluntary commitment of the cities and networks of cities to provide most
of the input.
However, the Covenant can work only if the Commission provides:
 liaison with EU policy developments
 technical and financial support to track progress and implementation of the proposed
measures, to facilitate promotion, to help negotiating external financial support and to facilitate
networking.