Low carbon municipalities. The impact of energy management on climate mitigation at local scale

Energy planning in municipalities in some EU countries was introduced some two to three decades ago. In 2008 a wide European initiative - Covenant of Mayors - for local governments was launched to initiate their commitment towards energy and climate targets. Municipalities are considered among the main stakeholders to foster and implement energy saving and climate measures through their local Sustainability Energy Action Plan (SEAP). More than 6000 municipalities have developed and approved their SEAPs, however only part of them are successfully implemented. The article proposes and describes integrated approach to motivate municipalities to engage and apply a systematic approach towards energy reduction. Through implementation and continuous improvement of energy management systems in public buildings and infrastructure, municipalities are able to tackle further challenges across different fields of interest in the whole territory of the municipality. Article provides the most important motivators, challenges and advantages of the approach based on the assessment of 41 municipalities around Europe.