ACARBIO presents a proposal for the Intelligent Energy Europe programme, the aim of which is to go far beyond the concept of sustainable communities as expressed through the Convent of Mayors, using local action to achieve better results than the 20/20/20 commitment of EU. The involved municipalities will aim to achieve greater energy efficiency by more than 20%, share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix for more than 20% and seek to achieve greater reductions on CO₂ emissions than the 20% mark. The municipalities will prepare two actions plans aiming to achieve 30/30 and 50/50 rather than 20/20 as above. The idea is to encourage coastal communities to produce local plans. In doing so, consideration would be given to the special and unique characteristics of local community (architecture). A group of support institutes/companies with specific technological know how will support the communities in preparing the local action plans and participate as partners.

The aim of this Energy Action Plan is to analyze and assess the current situation in the region and propose actions and measures on energy saving and energy production. The actions and measures will describe interventions and recommendations in public and private buildings, in public areas, traffic and transport and will propose small scale applications for Renewable Energy Sources (RES) .

The existence of the Energy Action Plan will be a benchmark for the Sustainable Development in Energy in each region. The purpose is the conversion of the city/ community to a Sustainable Energy Community. A further basic goal of the project is to involve the municipality (territory) in the Covenant of Mayors. The local actors and stakeholders have a significant role for the creation and implementation of a successful Energy Action Plan. Local actors will be involved as supporting agents in promoting the concept at local levels and specific key actors will produce sectoral results.

Keywords: covenant of mayors, CO₂ emissions, sustainability, energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, action plans.

Contact: Vincenzo Sannino, President - direzione@riservabiosferacostiera.org