Strong CoM – Strengthening the Covenant of Mayors Movement in Belarus

About of project:

Description

More than 9,500 cities and provinces in various countries have acceded to the European initiative – the Covenant of Mayors, undertaking the commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40% by the year 2030. There are 47 cities and towns in Belarus that are party to the Covenant. After accession, the city/town has to work hard on development of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the climate change. In order to achieve the goal, the city/town needs to have specialist support and experience exchange with our member cities/towns.

Goals and Objectives: Bring the Covenant of Mayors to the attention of the general public.  Establish efficient cooperation of local authorities, non-governmental organizations and national administrations in the energy sector and in the field of climate change. These measures will facilitate successful fulfilment of Belarus’ commitments under the Covenant, as well as the involvement of new Belarusian participants.

Intermediate Outcomes: In the three years of the project implementation, the number of cities/towns party to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy has grown from 11 to 47. Training events and conferences are held for representatives of these cities/towns to expand their knowledge about energy efficiency and adaptation to the climate change. Ecopartnership provides consultations to the cities/towns on development of their sustainable development and climate action plans. 

Ten local initiatives aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the climate change, with the overall budget totalling to about EUR 220,000 were implemented with the project support.

17,300 trees and bushes were planted, 8.5 km of bike paths were built, 36 bicycle parking lots and 44 energy efficient street lamps and 22 solar collectors were installed, 3 municipal boiler houses were upgraded within the local initiatives. All initiatives actively engaged local residents raising their awareness about energy saving and the climate change. More than 8,000 persons took part in the events.

Energy Days – events raising public awareness about energy efficiency and climate change issues have been held annually with the support from the European Union. In 2018, Energy Days were held in 27 Belarusian towns (in 2019, – in 35 towns) within the European Sustainable Energy Week.

The climate.ecopartnerstvo.by web page was set up for the signatory cities/towns, with a newsletter issued every month.

Points of Contact: Natalia Andreyenko, Energy and Climate Project Coordinator

+375 17 336 01 90, +375 29 706 85 45, na@ecopartnerstvo.by