Italy And Spain Aim For Energy Efficient Cities

Posted on 05. May, 2010 by Ross in Europe, Government Policy

Whilst the rest of the world continues to be locked in inaction in the aftermath of the failed Copenhagen Conference, Europe is still forging ahead with its plans to forward with greater energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Now, 500 European cities, particularly from Italy and Spain, have pledged to take this even further and do even more than their fair share of carbon emission reductions, with an aim to outperform the general European targets through greater sharing of successful low-carbon strategies such as energy efficient lighting.

The blanket target for Europe currently stands at 20% emission reduction from 1990 levels by 2020. Europe was keen to commit to a further 10% at Copenhagen if other major economies would follow their lead, but a lack of movement from the USA as well as direct resistance from China to any inclusion of carbon targets left the EU reluctantly adopting it’s lower target.

The 500 cities which signed up to the Covenant of Mayors aim to pick up the dropped baton of stronger cuts again and run with it, and they will benefit from as much as 400 million euros of redirected European funding which was failing to be spent on energy infrastructure projects. The money will be ploughed into energy efficiency schemes to help households, businesses and local governments cut their energy use.

Just shy of half of the 500 energy efficient cities are Italian, whilst more than 100 Spanish cities have joined the Covenant. By contrast, only eight German cities have chosen to include themselves, whilst only one UK city joined. Somewhat ironically, the one UK city aiming to become more energy efficient is Aberdeen, the main gateway into the UK for North Sea oil.

Talking about the Covenant of Mayors, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said:

Smart green buildings, smart transport and logistics and, in general, the whole concept of smart cities are job-intensive activities that contribute directly to the local economy.

Crucially, they also make a positive contribution to other issues, such as social integration, quality of life, well-being, and the attractiveness of our cities.

Image of Europe by Peter Ito @ Flickr