The Joint Research Centre provides scientific and technical support to the European Commission and supports the Covenant of Mayors initiative. The Covenant of Mayors requires cities to develop Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) to reduce CO2 emissions 20% by 2020. Developing accurate SEAPs and monitoring progress requires reliable energy consumption data collected through baseline and monitoring emission inventories. However, data collection presents challenges as data is organized differently between countries and sectors. Energy audits and energy management systems can help cities develop better SEAPs and improve data quality for monitoring.

1. www.jrc.ec.europa.eu
Serving society
Stimulating innovation
Supporting legislation
The Covenant of Mayors:
Data collection and monitoring
16 September 2015
50000&1 SEAPs webinar:
Integrating Energy Management and Sustainable Action Plans: focus on data challenges
Tiago Serrenho
European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy
and Transport

2. 1. The Joint Research Centre and its role in the
Covenant of Mayors
2. The Sustainable Energy Action Plan process
3. The EED ISO 50001, and CoM
4. 4. Data collection and Data Quality
5. Some Considerations
Outline

3. 1. The Joint Research Centre and
its role in the Covenant

4. JRC - Robust Science for Policy Making
As a Directorate-General
of the European Commission,
the JRC provides customer-driven
scientific and technical support
to Community policy making
Supporting citizen’s security, health
and environmental protection, safety
of food and chemicals, alternative
energies, nuclear safety,
econometrics, prospective
technologies…
About the JRC

5. Scientific-technical support to the development,
implementation and monitoring of the CoM
Development of the guidebook “How to develop a Sustainable Energy
Action Plan (SEAP)”
Monitoring of the CoM implementation, including the development of a
specific template & instructions for signatories
Evaluation of submitted SEAPs, with feedback to Covenant cities
Operation of the technical helpdesk service
The role of the JRC
in the CoM
The team: Paolo Bertoldi (IET), Andreea Iancu (IES), Brigitte Koffi (IES)
Albana Kona (IET), Giulia Melica (IET), Silvia Rivas (IET), Paolo
Zancanella (IET), Tiago Serrenho (IET)

6. 54 COUNTRIES
6 300 signatories
198 million citizens
An unprecedented success…
Covenant EU
28 EU Member
States + EEA
Countries
Covenant East
ENP countries of the
Eastern Partnership
and Central Asian
countries. i.e.
Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,
Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan,
Ukraine and
Uzbekistan.
Covenant South
Maghreb and Mashreq
Countries

7. 2. The SEAP process

8. 8
The Covenant of Mayors
Mayors commit to go beyond EU energy and climate
objectives
at least 20% CO2 reduction
in their respective territories by 2020
Define a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI)
Prepare a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP)
Implement their Action Plan and report periodically on
progress
Involve citizens and other stakeholders
Adapt city structures and allocate sufficient resources
Encourage other cities to join
Voluntary initiative launched by DG ENERGY in 2008 to
support local authorities in the sustainable energy
development and the fight against climate change

9. The adhesion to the CoM initiates a process
within the local authority
The SEAP process

10. Guiding principles of the CoM approach
• Scientific soundness → knowledge of starting point (BEI)
• Territorial approach
• Focus on FINAL energy consumption:
 In Buildings, equipment/facilities (and industries):
→ Municipal sector (exemplary role of the local authority)
→ Residential sector
→ Tertiary sector
 Transport
Actions on Energy Efficiency and
implementation of Renewable Energies

11. 3. The EED ISO 50001, and CoM

12. Strategy to mobilise investment in the renovation of buildings
[art. 4]
Central government buildings: 3% of the total floor area to be
renovated each year [art. 5]
Promote energy audits and Energy Management Systems (EN
ISO 50001) [art. 8]
“Member States shall promote the availability to all final
customers of high quality energy audits which are cost-
effective”
The EE Directive
Main measures

13. 13
ISO 50001 and CoM
Definition of Boundaries
Top Management involvement
Energy Management Team
Communication of EnMS (internal and
external)
Energy Planning (SEAP)
ENERGY REVIEW (BEI)

14. 14
ISO 50001 and CoM

15. 15
Tot no. of measures on energy
audits: 750
Energy audits & SEAPs
Expected annual savings in 2020
associated with measures on
energy audits (1014.4 GWh/year)
545 SEAPs contain at least one measure on
energy audits

16. 16
Number of measures on EnMS
Energy management
systems & SEAPs
Expected annual savings in 2020
[GWh/year] associated with
measures on EnMS
127 SEAPs contain at least one measure on
Energy Management Systems

17. 4. Data collection and Data Quality

18. Bottom-Up versus Top-Down approaches
 Ideally a full Bottom-Up approach
should be followed
 Top-Down approaches might not
give an accurate picture of
the municipality
Will the Monitoring
Emission Inventories
capture the results of
local actions?
CO2

19. CoM IEA database EUROSTAT
database
Time series One year
inventory
Complete time
series
Complete time
series
Data
collection
Mostly bottom-
up inventories
(completed with
national/regional
averages when
data at local level
are not available)
Top-down,
national
averages
Top-down,
national
averages
Geographical
Distribution
Administrative
boundaries of
the signatory
Worldwide
coverage
EU28 and other
European
countries
Emission
factors
IPCC default
emission factors
or Local Factors
Standard IPCC
default
emission
factors
Country specific
emission factors
Databases

20. 20
CHALLENGES IN DATA COLLECTION
Structure of national/regional statistical data
Sweden
(Y)
(t CO2)
Municipal Buildings, equipment/ facilities
Tertiary Buildings, equipment/ facilities
Residential Buildings, equipment/ facilities
Public lighting
Industries (non ETS)
Municipal Fleet
Public transport
Private and Commercial transport
CoM
1. Activity sectors

21. 21
An example of a German signatory with this problem…
DataResidential buildings DataDataData Data

22. 2222
2. Energy carriers reporting:
e.g. Central Statistics bureau - Sweden
CHALLENGES IN DATA COLLECTION
Structure of national/regional statistical data
Diesel
Gasoline
Liquid Fossil Fuels
3. Privacy/secrecy issues
Different reporting
schemes, responding
to different needs,
exist…
→ Signatories may
lack resources to
comply with them all

23. The Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI)
A prerequisite to SEAP elaboration: the BEI quantifies the
amount of CO2 emitted due to energy consumption in the
municipality’s territory, and will thus help select the appropriate
actions
Example: Castelldefelds (Spain)
Share of emissions per sector
5% 2%
21%
37%
28%
7%
Primary sector
Industrial sector
Tertiary sector
Transport sector
Residential sector
Waste management
sector
Three
sectors
represent
86% of the
emissions of
the city

24. The Monitoring Emission Inventory (MEI)
An instrument to measure the impact of the SEAP actions:
the BEI shows where the local authority is at the beginning. The
successive MEIs will follow the same methods and principles of the
BEI and will show the progress towards the objective.
Example: Sunderland, UK
Every 2 years CoM signatories have to
report (qualitatively) on the
implementation of their actions.
Every 4 years it is mandatory for
signatories to submit an Monitoring
Emission Inventory (MEI).
Importance of reliable Energy
Consumption data!

25. The Monitoring Emission Inventory (MEI)

26. Focus: A simple important concept: final
energy consumption
Reporting is divided in four main sectors:
Final energy consumption in buildings, equipment/facilities and industries
Final energy consumption in transport
Other emission sources not related to energy consumption
(e.g. waste, wastewater…)
Local electricity generation
Not mandatory
Indirectly considered, if included in SEAP
Focus of the Covenant

27. 27
Insights on In-depth analysis report (JRC, to
be published)
In-depth study of 25 selected SEAPs
Sample covering the full spectra of the initiative
Understand main strengths and weaknesses
Interaction between other related initiatives
Extract Best practices

28. 28
Data inconsistency identified as a main weakness
Cities with already a energy/climate plan normally need to make an
extra effort in order to adapt to CoM
e.g. Amsterdam has an ambitious climate plan but does not
meet the CoM data reporting requirements
Cities with tradition on climate/energy subjects are the only
ones able to report 1990 as a reference year as proposed by the
methodology (4 out of 25)

29. 29
Recurrent cases of non detailed data for all sectors and energy
carriers  Hard to evaluate the overall impact
Mandatory and optional fields of data filling in the template
downgrades the quality of data
Use of national statistics prevents signatories to provide a
complete and coherent BEI
Only 7 cities of 25 cover all sectors
Implementation and monitoring phases are not well documented

30. 30
 Data reporting remains a major challenge for signatories and the level of
details in the templates shows a certain country dependence
 EnMS can present as a valid tool for consistency of methodological
approach and guarantee quality of data in municipalities
 Energy Audits in the EnMS can be of great help while planning and
implementing Energy Efficiency measures
 Small municipalities can bypass the lack of resources in “Energy Staff”
with the implementation of a EnMS
5. Some considerations

31. Thank you!
Tiago Serrenho
+39 0332 78 9628
Tiago.SERRENHO@ec.europa.eu
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
IET - Institute for Energy and Transport
Petten - The Netherlands & Ispra - Italy
http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu