NAKHCHIVAN, Azerbaijan, February 13. Interest in the Covenant of Mayors initiative is growing in Azerbaijan, Christophe Fréring, team leader of the Covenant of Mayors-Eastern Partnership (CoM East) initiative, said at an event on the Covenant of Mayors-Eastern Partnership (CoM East) initiative in Nakhchivan today, Trend reports.
He noted that the main goal of the events carried out within the Covenant of Mayors is to provide cities with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions.
"We are seeing an increase in interest from Azerbaijan. Our role is to provide clear information, practical tools, and real examples for municipalities to decide whether to join the initiative and how to do so," the team leader explained.
According to Fréring, there are currently 11 municipalities in Azerbaijan that have joined the Covenant of Mayors initiative, and seven of them have already developed an action plan.
"This is a very good indicator. Since the capital city has not yet joined the initiative, the percentage of the population covered is relatively low, but this may change in the future.
As a result of the events planned for these 11 cities, it is expected to reduce 1.3 billion tons of CO₂ emissions. To better visualize this figure, it can be noted that this impact is equivalent to planting 1.4 billion trees, removing 20 million cars from service, and replacing more than one billion light bulbs," he mentioned.
The team leader noted that the Covenant of Mayors initiative is a global platform supported by the European Union (EU) and Bloomberg Philanthropies and today unites more than 12,000 local governments around the world. "The main members of the Covenant of Mayors are municipalities. Because energy consumption and savings occur precisely in cities, towns, and villages. Without municipalities, the existence of this initiative is impossible," he said.
Fréring stressed that global climate targets have been raised to a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 in line with the EU strategy.
"In 2025, we also adopted climate neutrality objectives in line with the EU strategy. For the EU, this target is an 80-95% reduction by 2050. This is very ambitious, but we are aiming to achieve a 60% reduction by 2050. So we still have a lot of time to work together until 2050 arrives," the team leader added.
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