Building on resources developed in previous projects, such as 50000&1 SEAPs, which worked on energy management and action plan standards, and the Save@Work project, which organized municipal energy-saving competitions, the Compete4SECAP project (C4S) aimed to help local authorities put their existing Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) into action.
The project promoted the adoption of standardized energy management systems in municipalities through the coordination of national competitions and peer-to-peer exchanges that steered the attention and involvement of local to national authorities in eight European countries. The project also helped facilitate the upgrade of SEAPs into Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs), following the new planning approaches promoted by the Covenant of Mayors.
The C4S project covered eight countries across Europe and recruited at least 32 local authorities. Each town designated a local Energy Management Team to implement an Energy Management System (EnMS) in public buildings and other municipal operations (e.g., public facilities, street lighting, municipal vehicle fleets). A national energy management group was also created in each country, involving representatives from the participating cities, as well as national policymakers, other stakeholders, and the in-country project partner.
ICLEI coordinated peer-to-peer exchanges among stakeholders, who, in turn, trained local authorities in EnMS and related practices, ensuring replicability. Additionally, ICLEI helped local authorities take their SEAPs and similar strategies a step further, for example, upgrading them to SECAPs, based on ICLEI's extensive experience in action planning and expertise in climate adaptation. In addition to making cities more resilient, this also helped them align better with broader initiatives, such as the updated ambitions of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.