Sustainable energy action plans at city level: A Portuguese experience and perception

Abstract

In order to achieve the targets underlined in the European Strategy for climate change and energy efficiency, the so called 20-20-20 package, the European Commission launched the Covenant of Mayors to endorse and support the efforts deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy plans, and at the same time contribute to greenhouse gases emissions mitigation. This paper explores how the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) has been adopted in Portugal, and which type of measures are being defined and implemented by the municipalities. For that, all Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) submitted by Portuguese municipalities (124) have been examined, for which a detailed analysis was performed, including the Baseline Emission Inventory (70, i.e., around 50%). The municipalities that submitted SEAP cover 60% of the total population of the country because the main urban centres are a part of the 30% that have signed the CoM. Most common measures are related with changes on behaviour and infrastructure related to energy (such as renewable energies, energy efficiency in buildings, public lighting, etc.), waste and transport (for example optimization of: transport infrastructures, used vehicles and road operations). Public lighting is one of the energy measures present in all submitted SEAP, which plays a key role in energy consumption, reaching values of upwards of 12%, particularly in coastal areas due to higher population density and urban residential areas. Besides all efforts there is still a long way to go in terms of energy consumption reduction at local level.

Environmental Sustainability and Regional Competitiveness: Innovative Steps by a Local Public Authority towards Energy Saving

“…Hersonisos Municipality was among the first municipalities in Greece to sign in April of 2011 the "Covenant of Mayors" [14]. In order to achieve the targets underlined in the European Strategy for climate change and energy efficiency, the so called 20-20-20 package, the European Commission launched the Covenant of Mayors to endorse and support the efforts deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy plans, and at the same time contribute to greenhouse gases emissions mitigation [15]. True to its aim Hersonisos Municipality has been adopting and implementing basic principles of sustainable development on every aspect of its strategic development, aiming to become a financial, touristic and cultural pole, as stated on its 2014-2019 Development Plan.…”

Smart Concept expansion from local to city scale

“…According to Covenant of Mayor data there are 53 countries across the globe and eastern partners which already have SEAP (https://www.covenantofmayors.eu). For example, in Portugal SEAP covers 60% of the total population [11], which allow to plan city energy flows more actuality and insure better living conditions do more than half of populations.…”

Covenant of Mayors Committed to Local Sustainable Energy: The Italian Case

“…As already pointed out (e.g. in [22]), up to now rarely 1990 was chosen as reference year mainly due to difficulty for the local administration to evaluate data referred to the year 1990. More likely, year of the Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI) is between 2008 and 2010, e.g.…”

“…Under this perspective, the EU Covenant of Mayors (CoM) for Climate and Energy started in 2008 with the aim to gather local governments to achieving the EU climate and energy targets. Municipalities or groups of them (called "signatories") can adhere to CoM voluntarily and sign a declaration stating that they plan to obtain specific targets of CO2 emissions reduction through specific local actions that are described in the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) [22]. CoM initiative is part of the world climate change networks such as the Conference of Parties 21, "C40 cities", the ICLEI -Local Governments for Sustainability [23] and the Smart Cities Initiative [24].…”

“…Several studies on the topic of the CoM initiative have been published so far, analysing in detail different scales of the initiative, from national [22], [25], to regional [26]- [31] and local [32]- [35]. The comparison between municipalities of different countries has also been considered [36]- [39].…”