IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i22p15081-d972605.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Covenant of Mayors 2020 Achievements: A Two-Speed Climate Action Process

Author

Listed:
  • Silvia Rivas

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy)

  • Ruben Urraca

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy)

  • Paolo Bertoldi

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy)

Abstract

Assessing the world’s collective progress towards the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals is a global priority. Local authorities (LAs), in particular, play an important role in a just transition. This paper evaluates the real achievements of local climate action plans developed in Europe from 2008 to 2020 under the Covenant of Mayors initiative. On average, 85.6% of the GHG reduction targets were achieved way before the year 2020; however, our assessment shows different reduction patterns, with several leading LAs exceeding by 2–4 times their targets and 12% of LAs increasing their baseline emissions. This paper weighs the factors which have a determinant impact on these patterns, investigating the key drivers and barriers towards a clean energy transition under a new population-driven approach. While, for large LAs, the climate experience and the engagement of stakeholders is an asset for increasing their achievements, small LAs are much more conditioned by the political mandate and support from regional governments or external actors. The key factor for climate action planning appears to be the joint partnership between several government levels from a national perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvia Rivas & Ruben Urraca & Paolo Bertoldi, 2022. "Covenant of Mayors 2020 Achievements: A Two-Speed Climate Action Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:22:p:15081-:d:972605
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/15081/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/22/15081/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luigi Santopietro & Francesco Scorza, 2021. "The Italian Experience of the Covenant of Mayors: A Territorial Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Kern, Kristine, 2019. "Cities as leaders in EU multilevel climate governance: embedded upscaling of local experiments in Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 125-145.
    3. Cynthia Rosenzweig & William Solecki & Stephen A. Hammer & Shagun Mehrotra, 2010. "Cities lead the way in climate–change action," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7318), pages 909-911, October.
    4. Christoforidis, Georgios C. & Chatzisavvas, Konstantinos Ch. & Lazarou, Stavros & Parisses, Costantinos, 2013. "Covenant of Mayors initiative—Public perception issues and barriers in Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 643-655.
    5. Angel Hsu & Jonas Tan & Yi Ming Ng & Wayne Toh & Regina Vanda & Nihit Goyal, 2020. "Performance determinants show European cities are delivering on climate mitigation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(11), pages 1015-1022, November.
    6. Friederike Gesing, 2017. "The new Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the politics of municipal climate data," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 71 / 2017, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies.
    7. Buga, Nadya & Yousif, Charles, 2021. "Evaluating drivers and barriers to adopting a local energy policy under The Covenant of Mayors Initiative in the Small Island State of Malta," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Fouad Khan & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2016. "Testing the efficacy of voluntary urban greenhouse gas emissions inventories," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 141-154, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kılkış, Şiir & Ulpiani, Giulia & Vetters, Nadja, 2024. "Visions for climate neutrality and opportunities for co-learning in European cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nikola Matak & Marko Mimica & Goran Krajačić, 2022. "Optimising the Cost of Reducing the CO 2 Emissions in Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Albana Kona & Paolo Bertoldi & Şiir Kılkış, 2019. "Covenant of Mayors: Local Energy Generation, Methodology, Policies and Good Practice Examples," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-29, March.
    3. Jeroen van der Heijden, 2021. "When opportunity backfires: exploring the implementation of urban climate governance alternatives in three major US cities [Are LEED-Certified Buildings Energy-Efficient in Practice?]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(1), pages 116-135.
    4. Laura Lakanen & Heli Kumpulainen & Olli Helppi & Kaisa Grönman & Risto Soukka, 2022. "Carbon Handprint Approach for Cities and Regions: A Framework to Reveal and Assess the Potential of Cities in Climate Change Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Kılkış, Şiir & Ulpiani, Giulia & Vetters, Nadja, 2024. "Visions for climate neutrality and opportunities for co-learning in European cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    6. Miguel Manjon & Nathalie Crutzen, 2022. "Air quality in smart sustainable cities: target and/or trigger?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 68(2), pages 359-386, April.
    7. Nkweauseh Reginald Longfor & Jiarong Hu & You Li & Xuepeng Qian & Weisheng Zhou, 2023. "Scientometric Trends and Knowledge Gaps of Zero-Emission Campuses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-24, November.
    8. Aboagye, Prince Dacosta & Sharifi, Ayyoob, 2024. "Urban climate adaptation and mitigation action plans: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    9. Anthony Goerzen & Christian Geisler Asmussen & Bo Bernhard Nielsen, 2024. "Global cities, the liability of foreignness, and theory on place and space in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 55(1), pages 10-27, February.
    10. Miquel Salvador & David Sancho, 2021. "The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Vincent Wretling & Berit Balfors, 2021. "Building Institutional Capacity to Plan for Climate Neutrality: The Role of Local Co-Operation and Inter-Municipal Networks at the Regional Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    12. Mehryar, Sara & Sasson, Idan & Surminski, Swenja, 2022. "Supporting urban adaptation to climate change: what role can resilience measurement tools play?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113367, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-23, July.
    14. Kristine Kern & Janne Irmisch & Colette Odermatt & Wolfgang Haupt & Ingrid Kissling-Näf, 2021. "Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development, and Climate Policy: Comparing the UNESCO World Heritage Cities of Potsdam and Bern," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Lars Mewes & Leonie Tuitjer & Peter Dirksmeier, 2024. "Exploring the variances of climate change opinions in Germany at a fine-grained local scale," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Batas Bjelic, Ilija & Ciric, Rade M., 2014. "Optimal distributed generation planning at a local level – A review of Serbian renewable energy development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 79-86.
    17. Shao Sun & Zunya Wang & Chuanye Hu & Ge Gao, 2021. "Understanding Climate Hazard Patterns and Urban Adaptation Measures in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-12, December.
    18. Klaus Eisenack, 2024. "Why Local Governments Set Climate Targets: Effects of City Size and Political Costs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(11), pages 2935-2965, November.
    19. Irmisch, Janne & Haupt, Wolfgang & Eckersley, Peter & Kern, Kristine & Müller, Hannah, 2022. "Klimapolitische Entwicklungspfade deutscher Groß- und Mittelstädte," IRS Dialog 2/2022, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    20. Stefan Werland, 2020. "Diffusing Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning in the EU," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-16, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:22:p:15081-:d:972605. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.