Brussels, 29/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 29 January in Brussels, in the presence of elected representatives from London, Helsinki, Riga, Berlin, Bonn, Milan, Venezia, Nantes, Ljubljana, Warsaw and other cities, the European Commissioner for energy, Andris Piebalgs and the president of the Committee of the Regions, Michel Delebarre, officially launched the Covenant of Mayors. This initiative aims to involve citizens in the fight against global warming and is part of the second sustainable energy week. Adhering cities will aim to go beyond the objectives of the EU in terms of reducing their CO2 emissions by more than 20% by 2020,, as set out by the European Council of March 2007, through energy efficiency and renewable energy actions. Almost 100 cities throughout Europe, including 15 capital cities, have expressed their early support for the Covenant. The Commission will give support to the sharing of the best sustainable energy practices in the world to the Covenant cities and regions through a 'benchmarks for excellence' mechanism. The Commission also intends to work out the terms of the participation in the Covenant of the regions of Europe for the smallest cities that do not have sufficient financial means. It will also do this for the European Investment Bank, so that it can guarantee mobilisation of these financial resources. A Covenant secretariat, funded through the Intelligent Energy Europe programme, will facilitate monitoring, networking and promotion tasks of this new challenge. Citizens will be informed of the achievements of their respective cities through periodic reports, which can be monitored by a third party. The Commission will now have to produce a final version of the Covenant, through a formal consultation, and to open the period to formalise adhesions to the Covenant. In parallel, a number of high level debates and events will take place to work out the terms of participation of financial entities and the benchmarks for excellence in the Covenant. The first group of Covenant cities will formalise their adhesion no later than the next EU Sustainable Energy Week. Mr Piebalgs informed the press that, “Cities are becoming the places to deliver new ideas and innovative projects against global warming. Cities are also the public spaces where it is possible to find multicultural, cross-sectoral solutions, where the necessary conciliation between private and public interests may be found. The approach to tackle the climate crisis challenge can only be holistic, integrated, long-term and, most of all, based on the participation of citizens. This complex picture is best managed at local level”. (E.H.)