As described in the commitment documents all Signatories accept suspension of their membership in the initiative in case, they do not submit the above-mentioned documents (SEAP/SECAP and monitoring reports) within the established deadlines. This is a part of the Covenant Commitments, which all Signatories have committed to when signing the Covenant of Mayors. When a signatory is put on hold, their profile on the public website will turn grey and will not appear when searching for signatories.

Local authorities can sign the Covenant of Mayors at any time, there is no deadline! Covenant of Mayors Ceremonies provide all Mayors with a valuable opportunity for visibility, networking and a public signature.

Note: the reference adhesion date is the date of decision by the municipal council (or equivalent decision-making body).

Small neighboring municipalities can benefit from preparing a joint Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan. To join as a group, each municipality will have to sign up with the designated adhesion forms for joint SECAPs. The municipalities have two different options of collaboration:

Option 1 - individual commitments: each signatory in the group individually commits to reducing CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020 and/or 30% by 2030 and is thus required to complete its own template. The action plan can contain both individual and shared measures.

Option 2 - shared commitments: the group of signatories collectively commits to reducing CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020 and/or 30% by 2030. In this particular case only one single common template is to be filled-in by the group of signatories, which is then listed under a grouped signatory profile on the public website.

Local authorities willing to sign up to the Covenant of Mayors must present and discuss the commitments in their municipal council (or equivalent decision-making body). Once a decision to sign up is formally made, local authorities should complete their information online here and upload their duly signed adhesion form, which can be downloaded in your national language here. The date of the council decision is the date that must be indicated as the council deliberation date in the Information and contact form. Local authorities, with a duly signed adhesion form and acceptance, will subsequently be included into the public list of Covenant signatories.

Note: The Covenant of Mayors is a voluntary commitment. Hence the adhesion is fully free of charge.

European local authorities of all sizes - from small towns to big cities or major metropolitan areas - are eligible to sign up as Covenant signatory. The local authority must be democratically constituted with/by elected representatives.

As the initiative requires the design and implementation of a comprehensive Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP), the signatory’s governing bodies should have adequate competences in various fields, such as transport, buildings, land use planning, climate change adaptation etc. If an interested local authority lacks competences or resources to prepare its action plan, it should be supported by administrations with such capacities, i.e. Covenant Territorial Coordinators or Supporters.

Smaller local authorities can also join the Covenant of Mayors as a group of signatories and share the Covenant obligations. See here how to join as a group of municipalities.

As an existing signatory, you can renew your Covenant commitments at any time by adopting them in your municipal council and submitting the duly signed adhesion form available here.

If you have signed up to the Covenant of Mayors but have not yet started the preparation of your Sustainable Energy Action Plan:

You may instead consider channeling your efforts to prepare a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP), which focus on a 2030 horizon inclusive of both mitigation and resilience to the impacts of climate change. At the time of submitting your SECAP you will be requested to provide your new adhesion form.

If you have signed up to the Covenant of Mayors and have submitted a Sustainable Energy Action Plan:

You should keep your focus on implementing the 2020 commitments adopted by your municipal council and in assessing the progress towards them. If you wish to submit a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) before 2020, you should first report on your 2020 SEAP by submitting a monitoring template.

It will be up to each existing signatory to decide according to their planning cycles when they would like to sign up to the new commitments and thus prepare and submit a SECAP.

Please note that local authorities, who have previously signed the commitments for 2020 and now want to renew their commitments, should send their adhesion form for the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy directly to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., as online registration in this case is not possible.

Vision, ambition and scope of action The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy was launched on 15 October 2015 at the Joint Covenant of Mayors and Mayors Adapt Ceremony, where a long-term vision and new commitments towards 2030 were endorsed.

This initiative defines renewed commitment(s) and a shared long-term vision in order to tackle interconnected challenges: climate change mitigation, adaptation and access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy for all.

The vision is threefold and includes:

• Accelerating the decarbonization of our territories, thus contributing to keeping average global warming below 2°C.
• Strengthening our capacities to adapt to unavoidable climate change impacts, thus making our territories more resilient.
• Increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources on our territories, thus ensuring universal access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy services for all.

The initiative also proposes a new “global chapter” by inviting signatories to share their vision, results, experience and know-how with fellow local and regional authorities within the EU and beyond via decentralized cooperation and city-to-city twinning.

Commitments

By 2030, signatories commit to reducing carbon emissions across their territory by at least 30%, to increasing their resilience to the impacts of climate change and strengthening their efforts to provide access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy for all.

To translate commitments into action, a signatory commits to submitting a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) within two years following the local council decision and formal signing, including the mainstreaming of adaptation considerations into relevant policies, strategies and plans.

Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy

To translate their commitments into action, local authorities commit to:

• Prepare and submit a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI) that quantifies the CO2 emitted in the signatory's territory.
• Prepare and submit a Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) that measures the level of risk by analyzing potential climate hazards and assessing the vulnerabilities on the signatory’s territory.
• Submit a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP), approved by the municipal council within the described timeframe (one year for SEAPs and two years for SECAPs) following their official decision to join the Covenant of Mayors initiative, which outlines the measures and policies they will implement to achieve their targets.
• Submit regularly - every two years after submission of their action plan - monitoring reports assessing the progress of their action plan.

Covenant of Mayors & Mayors Adapt (commitments before 2016)

For Covenant of Mayors and/or Mayors Adapt signatories, the commitments and associated reporting requirements remain as defined in the initial Commitment Text (signed when joining):

• CoM signatories are therefore committed to submitting a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) within one year after the formal signing and then a monitoring report every two years.
• Mayors Adapt Signatories are committed to developing a local adaptation strategy and/or mainstreaming adaptation into existing relevant plans within two years of signing up to MA and then submit a monitoring report every two years.

Signatories accept the suspension of their membership in the initiative in case they do not submit the above-mentioned documents (SEAP/SECAP and monitoring reports) within the established deadlines. As soon as signatories submit their requested documents, they are reintegrated as members of the Covenant of Mayors. Suspension details.

The European Commission has committed to supporting local authorities involved in the Covenant of Mayors and providing public visibility for them.

Firstly, the Commission has implemented and funded the Covenant of Mayors Office (CoMO), which assists Covenant signatories with any questions via the Helpdesk and promotes their local actions via the Covenant’s communication channels. The CoMO also co-ordinates the work with third parties and negotiates the support of relevant stakeholders.

Secondly, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission works in co-operation with the CoMO to provide comprehensive technical guidelines and templates in order to assist signatories in their delivery on the Covenant of Mayors commitments as well as to monitor implementation and results of signatories’ Action Plans.

Thirdly, the European Commission has committed to mobilizing financial facilities and political support at EU level.

Based on surveys, existing Covenant Signatories find multiple reasons to join the movement, which include:

• Make a public statement of their ambitious commitment to CO2 reduction.
• Create or reinforce the dynamic on CO2 reduction in their territory.
• Benefit from encouragement by and examples of other pioneers.
• Share the expertise developed in their own territory with others.
• Make their territory known as a pioneer.
• Publicize their achievements to the Covenant community and beyond via the Covenant website.
• Improve quality of life for their citizens.
• Benefit from widespread technical support.
• Reinforce collaboration with citizens and local stakeholders on their territory through the development and monitoring of their action plans.

The point of departure for the Covenant of Mayors was a call from European cities that was endorsed and supported by the European Commission. As the Covenant of Mayors is a bottom-up initiative and a voluntary commitment by municipalities to meet ambitious targets set by themselves, it is of no cost to join the Covenant of Mayors fulfil the targets and duly report in line with the Covenant methodology.