Reducing Greenhouse Gases Emissions through Sustainable Energy Action Plans at Local Level: The Common Platform Proposed by the Covenant of Mayors Initiative and its Potential Impact in the South East European Region

With its signatory local authorities covering 181.6 million inhabitants, representing 36 % from the total EU28 population by the end of January 2014, Covenant of Mayors (CoM) is now the main stream European movement promoting greenhouse gases reduction at local level through energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources. The energy production is one of the key challenges faced by the Danube region. A large part of the energy used is imported, its transport is costly and market are fragmented. In addition, is specifically vulnerable regarding the security of the supply. Most countries of the region have however a large natural potential to develop energy from renewable sources. In this framework, the paper is exploiting the features of cities from the Region, signatories of CoM, in terms of energy consumption, CO2 emissions, local electricity and heat production. The paper aims to establish the potential of growth of the CoM in these countries and also to estimate the impact of the movement in these countries in terms of energy and greenhouse gases reduction. The data from the bottom up inventories, reported by the signatories as baseline for their reduction in 2020, where analysed and compared with the national data. Furthermore a rigorous methodology has been developed in order to evaluate the energy efficiency actions in terms of CO2 emission reduction per unit of energy savings.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc