HOW TO DEVELOP A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ACTION PLAN (SEAP) IN THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP AND CENTRAL ASIAN CITIES ─ GUIDEBOOK. PART I - THE SEAP PROCESS, STEP-BY-STEP TOWARDS THE -20% TARGET BY 2020

The purpose of the present guidebook is to help the Covenant of Mayors signatories in Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine) and five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) to reach the commitments they have taken by signing the Covenant, and in particular to prepare within the year following their official adhesion a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI) and a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) BEI is a prerequisite to SEAP elaboration, as it will provide knowledge of the nature of the entities emitting CO2 on the municipality's territory, and will thus help select the appropriate actions. Inventories conducted in later years will allow determining if the actions provide sufficient CO2 reductions and if further actions are necessary. The current guidebook provides detailed step-by-step recommendations for the entire process of elaborating a local energy and climate strategy, from initial political commitment to implementation. It is divided into 3 parts: • Part I relates to the description of the overall SEAP process and covers the strategic issues; • Part II gives guidance on how to elaborate the Baseline Emission Inventory; • Part III is dedicated to the description of technical measures that can be implemented at local level by the local authority in the different sectors of activity; The guidebook provides a flexible but coherent set of principles and recommendations. The flexibility will allow local authorities to develop a SEAP in a way that suits their own circumstances, permitting those already engaged in energy and climate action to come on board of the Covenant of Mayors, while continuing to follow the approaches they have used before with as little adjustments as possible. This document is intended to help beginner towns/cities/regions to initiate the process and guide them through it. It should also provide experienced local authorities with answers to specific questions they are faced with in the context of the Covenant of Mayors, and if possible, with some fresh and new ideas on how to proceed.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc