Brussels, 16/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - A month and a half before the COP 21, a new Covenant of Mayors, the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, was launched in the chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday 15 October. Hundreds of mayors and representatives of European cities were present at the event.
The initiative, the fruit of an alliance between the European institutions and local authorities across the whole of the EU, merges the Covenant of Mayors, which was launched in 2008, and Mayors Adapt, launched in 2014. It is testament to the increased influence and decisive role of local authorities in tackling climate change.
The signatory cities of this new Covenant of Mayors pledge action to support implementation of the new 2030 EU climate and energy targets - a binding reduction of at least 40% in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990, 27% energy efficiency savings and 27% renewable energy. They also commit to a joint approach to tackling mitigation and adaptation to climate change and to extending their action across the globe.
“The response to climate urgency can also become an opportunity for local development, job creation and the emergence of a new societal model”, said Mayor of Nantes Johanna Rolland, whose city plans to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030.
Patrick Klugman, deputy mayor of Paris, the COP 21 host city, shared with his peers the experience of the French capital, which has just adopted its climate adaptation roadmap and plans to create 100 hectares of green roofs by the end of the term of office of Mayor Anne Hidalgo. On the energy front, Paris is on course to power all municipal buildings with green electricity by 2016.
Since 2009, some 6,500 local authorities have already voluntarily signed up to the EU's 2020 CO2 reduction objective. European Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete has hailed this bottom-up approach which, he said, had worked so well in Europe. In his view, the Covenant of Mayors, which is already the world's largest urban climate and energy initiative, is without doubt a success story that deserves to be exported.
Last summer, the European Commission, with the support of the Committee of the Regions, opened a consultation on the possible orientations of a new Covenant of Mayors. 97% of responses called for a new target beyond 2020. The majority also endorsed the 2030 objectives for a minimum 40% CO2 reduction, 27% increase in energy efficiency and renewables, and supported the integration of mitigation and adaptation to climate change - key strands of the global agreement it is hoped will be reached in Paris - under a common umbrella. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)