Brussels, 30/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - The representatives of the Barcelona provincial council handed to Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, on 30 October, the first 39 Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) of the Covenant of Mayors signatories in the province. The Diputació de Barcelone is one of the first supporting structures of the Covenant, offering signatories technical and financial assistance for drafting their SEAPs. End August 2009, 105 provincial municipalities had joined the movement, i.e. 88% of its 4 527 988 inhabitants. According to estimates, emissions reductions by 2020 will exceed 3.6 million tonnes for these 105 municipalities, totalling to date 19.1 million tonnes. The supporting structures are essential to help smaller public authorities to successfully carry out SEAP procedure despite its technical complexity (evaluation of emissions and diagnosis, action plans, surveillance plans and final action plans. The SEAP model, available on line on the Covenant website, will facilitate the task. To date, 907 European towns have jointed the Covenant. For further information: http://www.eumayors.eu (E.H./transl.jl)