Covenant of Mayors Sustainable Energy Action Plans

The local governments signing up to the Covenant of Mayors commit to submit their Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) within the year following adhesion. The Sustainable Energy Action Plan is a key document that shows how the local government will reach its CO2 reduction target by 2020. Since the Covenant's commitments concern the whole geographical area of the city/town, the SEAP should include actions concerning both the public and private sectors.

In principle, it is anticipated that most SEAPs will include actions in the following areas:

• Built environment, including new buildings and refurbishment of existing buildings;
• Municipal infrastructure (district heating, public lighting, smart grids, etc);
• Land use and urban planning;
• Decentralised renewable energy sources;
• Public and private transport policies and urban mobility;
• Citizen and, in general, civil society participation;
• Intelligent energy behaviour by citizens, consumers and businesses.

Reductions of greenhouse gas emissions due to industry delocalisation are explicitly excluded.

Energy efficiency measures, renewable energy projects and other energy-related actions can be introduced in various activity areas of local and regional governments.

Sustainable Energy Action Plans should be elaborated with the active contribution of the civil society. SEAPs with a high degree of citizen participation are the most likely to get continuity in the long-term and to succeed in attaining their objectives.

Your SEAP must be approved by the municipal council and uploaded in your national language (or in English) using the on-line submission system available via the Signatories’ Corner (password restricted area). You are required, at the same time, to fill in the SEAP template in English (Excel version available here).
 

A detailed guidebook for Sustainable Energy Action Plans and Emissions Inventory is available in five languages: [en] [de] [fr] [es] [it].