Irish Regions Office Website

February 20, 2008

Local Authorities take Lead on Climate Change

Hot on the heels of the Climate and Energy Package (see the 'Action Plan for a Low-Carbon Europe' article from Feb 11), the European Commission has launched a voluntary 'Covenant of Mayors' - an initiative to promote greater participation of citizens in the fight against global warming.

This proposal invites Europe's local and regional authorities to make formal commitments to go beyond the objectives of the EU by reducing their CO2 emissions by more than 20% by 2020 and by developing Sustainable Energy Action Plans. Almost 100 local and regional authorities throughout Europe, including 15 capital cities and Cork County Council, have already expressed their support for the Covenant with commitment to be made official no later than the 2009 EU Sustainable Energy Week. The Commission will support the sharing of best sustainable energy practices to the Covenant membership through a 'benchmarks for excellence' mechanism and will negotiate the terms of the involvement of other major stakeholders. A Covenant secretariat, funded through the Intelligent Energy Europe programme, will facilitate monitoring, networking and promotion of the tasks of this new challenge. Citizens will be informed of the achievements of their respective cities through periodic and independently monitored reports.Further details at: http://www.managenergy.net/com.html

Posted by iroronan at February 20, 2008 03:46 PM