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With the landmark threshold of 2,500 submitted Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) soon to be exceeded, the Covenant of Mayors’ impact cannot be understated.

However,  about 10% of Covenant signatory cities have faced difficulties in completing their SEAP within the given timeframe, despite deadline extensions granted by the Covenant of Mayors Office. In line with the termination clause of the Covenant of Mayors official text, the membership of the said signatories will be put ‘on hold’ until they comply with their first commitment.

Although the European Commission is conscious of the unfavourable economic climate experienced by local authorities in Europe, it is not in a position to accept further delays in the submission of SEAPs, as the credibility of the Covenant of Mayors initiative rests on the signatories’ ability to deliver on their commitments.

Fortunately, signatories are not isolated in their efforts: an arsenal of support instruments has been developed by the Covenant of Mayors Office, including several tools such as e-learning course, the SEAP guidebook, the catalogue of SEAPs and Benchmarks of Excellence, thematic workshops and webinars.

Regions, provinces and other Covenant Coordinators also play a crucial role in helping municipalities honour their commitments. Action plans developed as part of a broader regional strategy with the cooperation of such Coordinators are granted longer deadline extensions. Likewise, Intelligent Energy Europe projects serve as key enablers to help signatories perform the various phases of the Covenant of Mayors process.

Through the FAQ section, signatories can find out more about the new on-line procedure to submit a delay request (>>How to request an extension of your SEAP submission deadline?) or take note of the automatic suspension (>>What if the SEAP has not been submitted within the deadline?).

This automatic suspension procedure aims to ensure greater transparency and fairness vis-à-vis other signatories having complied with their commitments: the signatory’s status is therefore publicly available under its public profile (select ‘on hold’ under the ‘status’ filter).