Nearly half of CoM East signatories submit climate plans

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published an assessment of the Covenant of Mayors – East (CoM East) initiative, reviewing Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) submitted by signatories across the Eastern Partnership region. The report, based on data collected up to 1 January 2025, found that Ukrainian municipalities accounted for 66 per cent of all analysed action plans despite the ongoing war.

Of the 540 signatories covered by the report, representing 31.49 million people, 264 submitted at least one action plan — 49 per cent of signatories, accounting for 73 per cent of the CoM East population. Among these, 56 per cent submitted a SECAP integrating both 2030 mitigation and adaptation commitments. The average 2030 emission-reduction target across signatories stood at 34 per cent, in line with the region’s required minimum of 30 to 35 per cent, while 23 per cent of signatories set more ambitious targets of 36 to 45 per cent.

Residential buildings accounted for 58 per cent of emissions reported in signatories’ baseline emission inventories, followed by transport and tertiary buildings. Fossil fuels remained the largest emissions source at 41 per cent, ahead of electricity and district heating and cooling. On adaptation, the report identified extreme heat, heavy precipitation, drought and water scarcity, and flooding as the most commonly reported hazards, with agriculture and forestry, and buildings, named as the most vulnerable sectors.

The report noted that reporting on energy poverty, mandatory since 2025, was not yet covered by this analysis, though some signatories have started combining mitigation, adaptation and energy poverty measures in a single plan. Only 20 per cent of signatories with an action plan had submitted a monitoring report by the cut-off date.

The document is available in the “Other documents” section of the Library of the CoM East website, as well as on the official website of the JRC.