Covenant of Mayors going East Supporting the participation of Eastern Partnership and Central Asian cities in the Covenant of Mayors

The EU has launched a new Call for Proposals with the aim to support the participation of Eastern Partnership and Central Asian cities in the Covenant of Mayors. Actions must take place in one or more of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: Friday 22 July 2011

TOTAL BUDGET FOR THIS CALL:  2,500,000€

GRANT AMOUNT:

• minimum amount: EUR 300 000

• maximum amount: EUR 500 000

The maximum percentage of support is 80% of the total eligible costs of the action.

PROJECT DURATION: 24-36 months

MINIMAL COMPOSITION OF A CONSORTIUM

The consortium must at least include a Covenant of Mayors signatory city/local authority (or intending to sign up to the Covenant) of an ENP-East partner country (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) or of the 5 following Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Any further partner must be a national of an EU/EEA/IPA/ENP-East or Central Asian (as listed above) country  or an international organisation. Consortia that include partners from different beneficiary countries (ENP-East and the 5 mentioned Central Asian countries) are strongly encouraged. The evaluation committee will pay a particular attention to this aspect and this will be reflected in the score that will be given in section 1.1 of the concept note evaluation grid.

TYPE OF ACTIONS

Any action directly related to the preparation and the implementation of the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP), as well as development of the capacity of local authorities in dealing with sustainable energy planning in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors, is eligible.

Any action dealing with fulfillment of the Covenant of Mayors commitments, and not necessarily foreseen in the SEAP, is also eligible, e.g. capacity building, awareness raising activities, organisation of energy days and any other event or thematic workshop, be they proposed by cities themselves or by any other relevant entity (e.g. Covenant Supporters or Territorial Coordinators, energy agencies etc), as long as they comply with the objectives of the Call.

TYPE OF ACTIVITIES

The Sustainable Energy Action Plans are to be prepared in accordance with a template that includes a number of defined sectors. The key target sectors of the Covenant are buildings, equipment, facilities and transport.

Eligible activities under this call for proposals shall be related to the preparation of the SEAP and its implementation in these sectors, allowing significant energy savings, improvement of energy efficiency, reduction of CO2 emissions, and/or renewable energy production. Activities that aim at shifting the SEAP into a practical investment plan are also particularly relevant.

Eligible activities may also include:

• Co-financing of SEAP-related innovative small-scale projects dealing with sustainable energy in urban transport or in public buildings/offices and housing or public lighting, improvement of urban heating and cooling systems, urban air quality monitoring and information systems, improvement of basic essential public services such as solid waste management, wastewater treatment, sustainable extension of services to non-serviced areas, improved measurement and monitoring of energy consumption, etc.

• Improving the financial viability of bigger municipal investment projects (projects over EUR 3 million) in these sectors, provided that the amount of the requested grant does not exceed 10% of the total investment budget.

• Setting up small-scale municipal financing facilities and tools for demonstration projects (such as a revolving fund or a guarantee fund).

Eligible activities can also address institutional capacity by strengthening/setting up:

• a structure (forum, network, platform, twinning etc), as part of the proposed activities, that would allow covenant signatory cities in the Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries to build up their capacities to develop and implement SEAPs through exchange of experience and best practices either between them and/or with signatory cities in the EU. Covenant Territorial Coordinators and Supporters are particular but not exclusively targeted under this section.

• an institutional framework that is necessary to implement the SEAP, such as municipal energy agencies/ESCOs, municipal energy units within the local administration. Particular attention should be paid to the issue of an institutional set-up/strengthening that would allow to mainstream energy planning into the overall urban planning and to monitor the energy savings that are made on a yearly basis.

• a structure that may allow civil society organisations (CSOs) to play a greater role in the definition and the implementation of urban sustainable energy planning tools such as the CoM SEAP.

• a structure that may help Covenant signatories to obtain the relevant data needed for the preparation of their baseline emissions inventory and SEAP, at regional or national level, in line with Covenant rules and guidelines.

Finally, eligible activities can also include awareness raising campaigns and actions in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors, such as e.g. local Sustainable Energy Days, including media or street campaigns promoting rational use of energy.