In October 2018, the European Union (EU) published its A clean planet for all Communiqué, outlining eight pathways on how to reach climate-neutrality by 2050. The EU has also recognised the importance of local authorities in reaching the global climate targets and is increasing efforts to strengthen an integrated and multi-level approach to energy and climate governance.
ICLEI Europe stresses that municipalities must be part of multi-level governance frameworks used as key instruments to achieve the European climate targets. Through advocacy, such as via ICLEI’s role within the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, as well as technical support and guidance, ICLEI facilitates local governments in their low-carbon development and implementation of sustainable energy solutions. This development spans from heating and cooling, to energy generation, to efficiency measures, and smart innovations. It importantly also includes integration of Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) and upgrades to Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs). The proper management of energy systems can be an effective way for public authorities to contribute to the 2030 and 2050 climate targets.
Evolution of Energy Management Systems
As is quite well known amongst those working on energy transitions, the global standard for Energy Management Systems (EnMS) is ISO 50001. Though it has typically been applied to industrial and commercial contexts, it has also proven to be a valuable tool for public authorities to adopt for streamlining their own facilities, assets and processes.
In the EU-funded Compete4SECAP project, which ICLEI Europe is one of the leading partners of, tailored EnMS guidelines have been developed to help local authorities set up their own systems, and learn from other cities who have worked on this approach before.
However, it is also worth noting that standards evolve, and, just last year, ISO 50001 was officially updated from its previous version (from 2011). This change may be useful for local authorities and other organisations interested in implementing EnMS to consider. The update includes a number of alterations targeting topics like personnel, external communication requirements, streamlining monitoring, and linkages to procurement processes. There are also certain changes envisioned in the 2018 update that are more closely related to operational energy issues, such as clarifications about scope, energy performance indicators, baselines and data.
For more details, a longer article titled “Key changes in ISO 50001:2018 vs ISO 50001:2011” has been published by the world's largest classification company, Norway-based DNV-GL.
Energy and climate planning has evolved too
ICLEI goes beyond the sole issue of energy management, continuing to work in the broader field of integrated climate and energy planning, which is also evolving. The organisation has been a key player for years, facilitating its members’ development of both SEAPs and adaptation/resilience strategies. Even now, the newer standard, as promoted by the Covenant of Mayors, which integrates both of these streams, plays a prominent role in ICLEI’s own contributions to the C-Track50 and Compete4SECAP EU Horizon 2020 projects. Both of these efforts focus on helping cities and towns upgrade SEAPs into SECAPs.
C-Track 50 aims to mobilise and guide public authorities in defining long-term energy policy priorities, promote multi-level governance, and support regional and local authorities in developing, financing and implementing integrated SECAPs. These contribute to the overarching goal of reaching climate resilience and carbon neutrality by 2050. This will be achieved through the facilitation of multi-level governance cooperation in eleven European countries, the identification of national policy priorities, capacity-building at local and national levels, as well as the development of SECAPs and funding proposals.
The Compete4SECAP project aims to help local authorities put their existing SEAPs into action in a more standardised manner – namely through municipalities’ adoption and certification of their own EnMS. In addition, coordinated national competitions and peer-to-peer exchanges serve to help steer the attention and involvement of local to national stakeholders within eight European countries. More concretely, ICLEI Europe is currently drafting a new set of SECAP-upgrade guidelines, designed to facilitate public authorities contributing more effectively to their own energy transition. The guidelines will be published alongside the current library of available resources related to Energy and Climate Action and other useful topics.