In parallel to the drafting of their Sustainable Energy Action Plans, three municipalities, Girona (Spain), Reggio Emilia and Padova (Italy) have joined forces to produce a series of tools and guidelines to support them in the fulfillment of their Covenant of Mayors commitments. The toolbox is also a vital step towards achieving the ambitious climate and renewable energy targets set by the European Commission.

The guidelines developed as a result of the project are now available to cities across Europe to ease their transition to sustainable mobility. A user-friendly LAKS GHG calculator tool was also developed to compile emission inventories, allowing project partners to convert the energy consumption of their territory into greenhouse gas emissions. The developments took place within the framework of LAKS, a LIFE+ financed project, and the three cities received technical assistance from Covenant supporter, ICLEI Europe.

The main objective of the now-completed LAKS (Local Accountability for Kyoto goalS) project was to provide instruments to European cities to monitor CO₂ emissions, assess their environmental impact, apply corrective actions and report results. Following the LAKS project, enhancements to simplify reporting to the Covenant of Mayors were incorporated into ICLEI Europe’s Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) GHG calculator, available for use by CCP participants. For further information on the tool or on joining the CCP Campaign, contact ccp-europe@iclei.org.

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