EN Official Journal of the European Union C 51/43

Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — The future of the Covenant of Mayors

(2016/C 051/09)

Rapporteur: Ms Kata TÜTTŐ (HU/PES) Councillor, District 12, Budapest

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

Strengthening the Covenant of Mayors and defining new goals

1. has supported the Covenant of Mayors since its launch in 2008. The Covenant of Mayors is a European movement with the aim of achieving and, where possible, going beyond the European Union’s target of a 20 % decrease in CO2 emissions by 2020. To this end, participating local authorities have committed themselves to energy efficiency and renewable energy targets. Today the Covenant of Mayors is present in all Member States with the exception of one, and the participating local and regional authorities, which already number 6 000, represent a third of the EU’s population. Signatories to the Covenant have committed themselves to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 28 %;

2. in line with previous CoR opinions (1), recognises that, since its formation, the Covenant of Mayors has achieved unprecedented success both in mobilising local and regional authorities on climate and energy issues and in establishing multilevel governance structures;

3. welcomes the fact that the European Commission has launched and is financing this initiative which, thanks to energy-saving measures and the promotion of clean energy, currently helps more than 6 400 towns and regions throughout the world to reduce their CO2 emissions. On the basis of commitments freely undertaken by the members of the Convention, a reduction of 28 % is anticipated by 2020;

4. has continuously stressed the need to adopt a comprehensive approach to fighting climate change and adapting to its inevitable consequences; welcomes therefore the European Commission’s decision to merge the Covenant and the Mayors Adapt initiatives and encourages the Commission to fully explore the synergies which this will allow; recommends following a similar path with regard to the Pact of Islands initiative;

5. draws attention to the fact that, with regard to achieving these aims, emphasis is placed first and foremost on improving the energy efficiency of public buildings, modernising street lighting and developing urban transport. Energy planning for buildings accounts for 44 % of the target of reducing CO2 emissions. Moreover, by 2020 energy consumption should be reduced by 20 % as a result of investment in buildings and transportation;

6. will, via specific instruments, continue its institutional support for the Covenant of Mayors as well as encouraging, with the help of its current members, accession to the Covenant and the corresponding commitment to achieving the European Union’s energy policy objectives and exceeding their targets;

7. approves of and supports extending and updating the Covenant of Mayor’s objectives in line with the EU 2030 climate and energy framework programme, namely a reduction of over 40 % (2) in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990 (3); also calls for the sustainable use of resources to feature among the goals, in addition to energy efficiency;

8. calls on the European Commission to ensure that the Covenant of Mayors is able to continue its activities beyond 2020 and thus to provide the CoM with an autonomous administrative budget commensurate with the project’s growing political ambitions, in order to secure its long-term future. Taking into account the fact that 2020 is approaching and that the EU climate and energy framework will be in place until 2030, 2030 should be designated as a medium-term horizon and 2050 as a long-term target, as was the case with the strategy for transitioning towards a low carbon economy by 2050;

9. in the medium term, suggests amending the 2030 target on the basis of scientific reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (4) and the recommendations of the Committee of the Regions on the 2030 climate and energy framework (5), namely to set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 % compared with 1990. The Committee nevertheless notes that the EU regulatory framework which is currently being drafted sets a European target of reducing greenhouse gases by 40 %;

10. in the long term, suggests that the signatories set a target of at least 95 % reduction by 2050. On the basis of scientific reports published by the IPCC, the EU has committed itself to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by between 80-95 % compared with 1990. Taking into account the fact that new scientific data are regularly published regarding intervention measures and further efforts that ought to be made in order to respond to climate deterioration, the CoR proposes that the Covenant of Mayors set its own goal at the top end of this range, in other words a 95 % reduction;

11. nevertheless declares itself opposed to making membership of the Covenant of Mayors more difficult. The goal of reducing CO2 emissions must be increased if only slightly as one of the attractions of this movement lies in its simplicity. The CoR recommends nevertheless that the more ambitious signatories consider putting in place an internal target system at various levels as well as an affiliated recognition regime, particularly for the more basic matters such as building design, transport, etc.;

12. advocates focusing more on small towns and municipalities, given that 56 % of EU municipalities have between 5 000 and 100 000 inhabitants. The measures taken by conurbations and small and medium-sized towns have a significant cumulative effect when it comes to putting into place sustainable urban development principles. As a result, the Committee proposes to develop measures to simplify and modernise the sustainable energy action plans (SEAPs), including a simple financial sheet, and the monitoring system so as to take account of the size of conurbations, as the paperwork currently needed to participate in the Covenant of Mayors is too complex for some smaller local authorities;

The globalisation of the Covenant of Mayors

13. notes with satisfaction that the Covenant of Mayors has already expanded beyond EU borders. To date, local authorities in more than 50 countries worldwide have joined the initiative and have freely committed themselves to reducing their CO2 emissions;

14. supports the global export of the Covenant of Mayors model and declares itself ready to help spread this model by means of partnerships with cities and regions in third countries, in particular those of the EU’s neighbours with which it already has cooperation structures in place through its ARLEM and CORLEAP platforms or through its Joint Consultative Committees and Working Groups, thus helping the cities and regions of the world to tackle the challenges of climate change;

15. encourages the European Commission to likewise promote the successful principles and good practice of the Covenant of Mayors beyond the EU and to encourage dissemination of the multi-level governance model for climate objectives (6) in order to pave the way for further decentralised cooperation;

Increasing the number of signatories and promoting the movement within EU Member States

16. notes with satisfaction that many CoR members are representatives of municipal councils which have already signed up to the Covenant of Mayors, and encourages members of the Committee to promote the Covenant initiative in their own cities and regions, as well as to establish long-term policies which promote the Covenant’s goals;

17. considers that simplifying the elaboration and implementation of the SEAP and the reporting process may be instrumental in attracting new signatories. In this respect, it would be also very helpful to improve the SEAP evaluation procedures and shorten the maximum time for evaluating the SEAPs; it should be borne in mind that, at the moment, small towns and rural areas do not have access to the resources and funding needed to implement a sustainable energy action plan;

18. considers that the regions and local authorities which already have experience in this area could act as mentors and thus help to encourage new local authorities to sign up to the initiative, as well as developing sustainable energy action plans and exchanging examples of good practice;

19. suggests the possibility of appointing a ‘Covenant of Mayors ambassador’ in each Member State, in order to attract the attention of cities and regions to the initiative, notably those cities and regions which, following a political change of direction, have not necessarily sought to continue their participation in the Covenant of Mayors. These ‘ambassadors’ would be chosen, on a voluntary basis, from among the members of the Covenant of Mayors and would benefit from the support of the CoR, the relevant national ministries and, via the permanent representations in the Member States, the European Commission. At the same time, they would also be generally responsible for reporting on the objectives in each country;

20. recommends building on existing local and regional partnerships and notably on twinning schemes, in order to continue to promote the Covenant of Mayors and its goals both within and outside the Union, and therefore contribute to the emergence of a global movement;

The role of regions in the Covenant of Mayors

21. recalls that the Covenant of Mayors’ goal is to put in place a governance structure ensuring that coordination between all levels of government conforms to the principles of subsidiarity and multilevel governance, so that the most ambitious level can take cost-effective measures. A prerequisite is that these measures are initiated at the grassroots level. It is crucial to mobilise the population and local authorities. The local authority level is the most appropriate for developing and implementing action plans, and encouraging public engagement in respect of these. The regions are to ensure coordination and bring the necessary support to the cities whose resources are limited when it comes to developing sustainable energy action plans. National authorities are also to ensure coordination as well as allocation of national and European resources, while decisions relating to the regulatory framework, financing and technical assistance programmes will be taken at the European level;

22. insists upon the importance, in order to achieve optimal results, of every level of government fulfilling the mission and the role that have been assigned to them within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors and, moreover, insists that once the Covenant has operated for a number of years, the minimum possible commitments should be upheld;

23. notes that the regions or micro-regions (NUTS 4 level) can play a crucial role in supporting signatory cities of the Covenant of Mayors, when it comes to developing sustainable energy action plans, implementing and exchanging ideas about good practice, with the aim of making sure that the same task is not performed twice, as well as enabling many small and medium-sized towns to participate in this initiative; this essential role of regions of any size is formally acknowledged by them joining the Covenant of Mayors as Territorial Coordinators;

24. recalls its previous recommendations concerning the importance of recognising and reinforcing the coordination role played by the regions within the Covenant of Mayors. This role is in fact essential in order to integrate the measures and projects of the smallest local authorities, as they do not receive any compensation for the costs incurred;

Recommendations on similar initiatives

25. recognises however that the Covenant of Mayors does not have a monopoly and is not the only ‘way ahead’ in the fight against climate change. Similar initiatives exist both within the Member States as well as within the Council of Europe and efforts should be made to develop synergies with these. National and regional initiatives are important for providing greater operational support, particularly for smaller municipalities. Reporting and commitments within the Covenant of Mayors should be reviewed to facilitate coordination with other international initiatives to raise the profile of the local and regional levels in the context of the United Nations climate change negotiations, e.g. the Compact of Mayors, carbonn (carbonn Climate Registry) and NAZCA;

26. reiterates its recommendation, already expressed in its opinion on the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change (7), in favour of integrating the Covenant of Mayors and the ‘Mayors Adapt’ initiative, and recommends doing the same with the Pact of Islands initiative;

27. draws the attention of the Covenant of Mayors Office and the European Commission to the benefits that can be reaped from synergies which might arise from bringing together, on the one hand, political commitments connected with membership of the Covenant of Mayors and ‘Mayors Adapt’ and, on the other, technological solutions proposed by ‘Smart Cities’;

28. draws attention to the confusion that the various initiatives could create, bearing in mind the diversity of their membership procedures and control mechanisms, as well as the partial overlap of their goals; argues therefore in favour of better coordination at the initiative of the Covenant of Mayors, and structuring of the various elements, paying particular attention to transparency, clear communication and reducing paperwork; suggests putting in place a single point of contact via which local and regional authorities could obtain all relevant information on the various initiatives;

29. notes that access to funding or financing is still a major barrier for SEAP implementation, in particular in the case of smaller municipalities or in countries where large budget cuts have been implemented;

30. emphasises that aside from strong institutional support, local and regional authorities also need a legal, financial, methodological and promotional environment that encourages the development of networks and that will facilitate the achievement of targets (8);

31. is opposed to all forms of discrimination against local authorities which have not joined the Covenant of Mayors;

Funding issues

32. observes with concern that small and medium-sized towns find it very difficult to access the EU’s resources, either because they are not aware of the funding possibilities that they can benefit from, or because they do not have access to the skills required to develop proposals for the kind of projects that are likely to be funded; therefore strongly urges the European Commission and the Covenant of Mayors to inform these towns about funding possibilities that are available to them in order to formalise their commitments (9). More broadly, advocates the establishment of dedicated funding schemes for small and medium-sized municipalities;

33. wishes to reiterate that, although the sustainable energy action plans approved by the EU’s Joint Research Committee are excellent ways to save urban energy, they still need to attract funding from a bank or from private capital in order to be transformed into projects. This is often because the skills needed to achieve this are absent at the local authority level. The ELENA programme, managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), can provide assistance in this respect, but it supports almost exclusively large projects. In order for the greatest possible number of plans to be implemented, national or regional programmes, modelled on the ELENA programme needs to be established that also provides funding opportunities for more modest projects, especially in small and medium-sized municipalities;

34. suggests that signatories should continue to receive technical assistance (feasibility studies, technical and financial engineering, procurement processes, etc.) in order to prepare projects from their SEAP measures that can attract funding, and to implement long-lasting financing schemes to mobilise the necessary investments. The EIB ELENA instrument has helped signatories to implement large and long-term financing models, but is very demanding in terms of project size and leverage factor, which immediately excludes small and medium-sized signatories. More EU support is needed to provide project development assistance for SEAPs of various sizes. Different sources of financing should be streamlined, including EIB facilities (EFSI, EIAH, ELENA), ESIF (Fi-Compass), Horizon2020, EEEF, JESSICA, the future initiative smart financing for smart buildings, etc.;

35. invites the European Commission to enable the Covenant of Mayors Office to support — possibly via an online platform — the interconnection of local and regional authorities’ projects so that they can access the service proposed by the EIB-managed ELENA programme; also requests that the Commission broaden access to technical support and capacity-building for signatories;

36. urges all information relative to funding opportunities to be collected in a clearly-worded brochure, in all the official languages of the EU, and updated annually, and for this brochure to be sent to relevant stakeholders and notably to the CoR and its members;

Cooperation between the CoR and the Covenant of Mayors

37. recalls that the CoR, as an EU institution representing the voice of the cities and regions of Europe and acting as a focal point for the various local networks, ought to play a central role in the multilevel governance system. Support should also be maintained for the work on multilevel government systems that is being carried out by regional and local energy agencies in Europe within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors. This would ensure that EU legislation is more in tune with the situation and needs of towns and municipalities;

38. stands ready to develop actions in order to increase the visibility of the Covenant of Mayors among its members and encourages those who have not done so yet to become parties to the Covenant on behalf of their respective local or regional authorities; to this end, will explore the creation of an ad hoc grouping of ‘friends of the Covenant of Mayors’ among those of its members who are already Covenant signatories, and who could receive support in promoting the Covenant in the relevant structures both within and beyond the CoR;

39. points out that the current refugee crisis, mainly caused by war and economic hardship, could in the future become even more serious if climate change is not fought successfully and its consequences threaten the survival of more and more people;

40. adds, in conclusion, that the Covenant of Mayors constitutes one of the instruments which could potentially help to bring the EU closer to its citizens. Local and regional authorities have demonstrated their capacity to exceed, on the basis of voluntary commitments, the targets set by the EU. Even better results cannot be obtained unless individual households, possibly via initiatives launched by local authorities, manage to set their own objectives for reduced, cleaner and more sustainable energy consumption, in their own interest as well as the interests of the planet as a whole.

Brussels, 4 December 2015. The President of the European Committee of the Regions Markku MARKKULA

(1) CdR 1536/2015; CdR 1535/2015; CdR 4084/2014; CdR 2691/2014; CdR 6902/2013; CdR 5810/2013; CdR 140/2011; CdR 408/2010; CdR 164/2010; CdR 241/2008.

(2) In line with the target set in the climate and energy policy framework for 2030: a 40 % reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990. Covenant of Mayors signatories pledge to go beyond EU legislation targets.

(3) The architects of the Covenant of Mayors’ goal for 2020 was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 % compared to 1990.

(4) http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml

(5) CdR 2691/2014.

(6) CdR 89/2009.

(7) CdR 3752/2013.

(8) http://urban-intergroup.eu/wp-content/files_mf/position_paper_smart_cities_public_consultation_2011_en.pdf

(9) CdR 283/2011.