What can CoM offer to regions and energy agencies?

What is the Covenant of Mayors?

The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (CoM) brings together local/regional authorities and entities voluntarily committed to implementing the EU’s climate and energy objectives on their territory. This unique bottom-up movement, which started in 2008 with the support of the European Commission, now counts +10,000 signatories, +200 territorial coordinators and +200 official supporters of which 68 are energy agencies.
Signatories (municipalities) commit to developing Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) and to implementing local climate change mitigation and adaptation actions. 

What’s in it for Regions and Energy Agencies?

Regions: Regional and sub-regional public authorities are invited to join the Covenant of Mayors as Territorial Coordinators.

Energy agencies: Energy agencies are invited to join the Covenant of Mayors Community as Official Supporters.

Both coordinators and supporters commit to supporting the municipalities within their geographical scope, by providing technical guidance/assistance, fostering adhesion and networking, supporting knowledge sharing and peer learning among municipalities.

They also benefit from:

• Endorsement and recognition from the European Commission;
• High visibility at EU and international level;
• Support in the promotion of regional activities, through the publication of news on the Covenant of Mayors website, participation in CoM webinars / workshops as speakers, publication of regional good practices, etc.
• Networking with other energy agencies, cities, regional authorities and experts in sustainable energy and climate change, as well as with high representatives of the EU Commission;
• Knowledge sharing and capacity building activities;
• And so much more.

Join the new CoM learning programme

On the 18th January 2021, the Covenant launched its new peer learning programme, which is open for registrations until the 19th March 2021. Regions, sub-regional authorities, and energy agencies can participate if they are already members of the Covenant of Mayors or if they join by June 2021.

Opportunities for Regions and sub-regional authorities

Regions and sub-regional authorities can participate in 2 peer learning activities:

• Expert mission, acting as learners. The (sub-)regional authority will be supported in overcoming a challenge  / problem faced in the development or implementation of its long-term strategy for climate and energy. The Expert Mission will be carried out through both online and physical meetings. During the physical meeting, the (sub-)regional authority will host the experts for 2 days, and will receive a compensation of up to €500 for the successful implementation of the action.

• Peer Review, acting as mentors. During the programme, the regional / sub-regional authorities will support signatories (up to 2 cities/municipalities) by reviewing their SECAP and support them in its successful submission.

Opportunities for Energy Agencies

Energy Agencies can participate in the Expert Mission as mentors, by supporting (sub-)regional authorities in overcoming barriers faced in the development or implementation of their long-term strategies for climate and energy. The barriers might regard measures for reaching carbon neutrality, fostering a participatory approach in climate and energy planning, developing long-term visions, etc. The programme will be carried out through both online meetings and a 2-day site visit, in which the experts from the energy agencies will visit the (sub-)regional authorities they are mentoring. Energy agencies will receive a compensation of €1500 for their expertise and up to €750 as reimbursement of their travel expenditures.

Join the Peer Learning Programme