Covenant of Mayors: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Achievements and Projections

The Covenant of Mayors (CoM) was launched in 2008 by the European Commission to support the efforts deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy and climate policies. At 4 September 2016, 6201 local authorities from 54 countries had joined the initiative, representing 213 million inhabitants.

Today, the JRC analysis of the Sustainable Energy Action Plans points out that the CoM signatories’ ambition is to reduce GHG emissions in 2020 by 27 %, well above the minimum target of 20 %.

Emission reductions for the EU Covenant signatories (31 % of the EU-28 population in 2014) may represent 31 % of the EU-28 GHG emission reduction target by 2020 compared to 2005. The analysis of the first 315 implementation reports (representing 25.5 million inhabitants) reveals that 23 % of the cut in emissions had already been achieved in 2014.