The affiliation process for the Covenant of Mayors – experiences from Sweden

Author: Goran GUSTAVSSON, Energy Agency for Southeast Sweden - Email / Meike LÖHR, come2CoM Project Coordinator (2011-2012), Beratungs- und Service-Gesellschaft Umwelt mbH, Germany - Email

Once a municipality has signed the Covenant of Mayors, it is crucial to support it from the beginning, emphasizes the Swedish come2CoM partner Energikontor Sydost. The Swedish experience shows that municipalities need the whole twelve months granted by the Covenant of Mayors’ Office in order to elaborate a Sustainable Energy Action Plan. For the communities that sign the CoM, the Swedish partner has already elaborated an energy balance with energy-related comparisons for many different years. The reason for this procedure is to facilitate the filling-out of the emission inventory by the municipalities, and to provide the officials, politicians and representatives of the industry with more complete material, in order to elaborate a relevant SEAP.

Image: Mayors and officials of two Swedish municipalities, Ljungby and Tingsryd, sign up for the Covenant of Mayors (Photographer: Marita Wallisson, RFSS)

Then Energikontor Sydost presents the energy balance to the responsible official. With the balance as a base, the energy agency invites the different municipal administrations that are relevant for the elaboration of the SEAP, as well as politicians and representatives of the industrial life, to a SEAP-workshop. The purpose is to discuss actions that could be included in the SEAP. Energikontor Sydost’s way of supporting communities, as a regional energy agency, is to act as a coordinator together with the responsible official in the municipality. Regarding concrete actions in the SEAP, another way to assist municipalities is to enable each municipality to benefit from the experience of others.

More information: Göran Gustavsson, Energy Agency for Southeast Sweden, Tel: +46 (0) 709 216054