The EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy is an initiative supported by the European Commission bringing together thousands of local governments that want to secure a better future for their citizens. By joining the initiative, they voluntarily commit to implementing EU climate and energy objectives.
The Covenant of Mayors was launched in 2008 in Europe. Not only did the initiative introduce a first-of-its-kind bottom-up approach to energy and climate action, but its success quickly went beyond expectations.
The Global Covenant of Mayors, launched in 2015, has been capitalising on the experience gained 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.
Infographic description: the Covenant of Mayors framework structured around the three pillars, Mitigation, Adaptation and Energy Poverty. The framing policies of these three pillars are the Paris Agreement and 2030 Sustainability Agenda and the European Green Deal, with a range of cross-sectorial policies, from the Renovation Wave, sustainable mobility, food system sustainability, to nature-based solutions and adaptation, just transition and circular economy. Accompanying cities' efforts are the EU Climate Law, EU Climate Target Plan, the EU Climate Pact, Horizon Europe, NextGenerationEU and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
A reference for energy and climate action
From the beginning, the Covenant of Mayors initiative has been designed to provide local governments, in highly diversified national contexts, with a framework for their local energy and climate action based on 4 principles:
- Consistency and transparency thanks to a common reporting framework for all
- Flexibility and adjustability of the common framework to better take specific needs and local realities into account
- Evaluation of the data reported by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (signatories may be suspended in case of non-compliance)
- Promotion and exchange of experience via the website news, social media, online and offline events…