ArmInfo.Over a half of Armenia's population is living in the communities actively involved in the Covenant of Mayors East (CoM East) project, Mr Christophe Frering, CoM East Team Leader, told reporters on Friday.
Fourteen Armenian communities are actively involved in the project. Twenty-eight communities signed the Covenant of Mayors, but half of them have not since taken practical steps to accomplish the tasks. So their membership has been suspended. Communities are supposed to honor their commitments, he said.
Covenant of Mayors East (CoM East) is the EU-funded project aimed at introducing the EU climate and energy initiative to the Eastern Partnership countries. CoM East supports local authorities in implementing sustainable energy policies, improving the security of energy supply, and facilities their contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The signatories commit themselves to submit development projects within two years. Otherwise, their membership will be suspended. Under the project, municipality staffs are trained to develop projects aimed at reducing CO2 emissions. The EU's share in project financing is 80%, with communities' shares being 20%. The signatories committed to reduce ??2 emissions by 30% by 2030 and enhance resilience by adapting to the impacts of climate change and undertaking a climate change risk and vulnerability assessment. The work is aimed at capacity building to strengthen the expertise of Covenant National Coordinators (CNC), Covenant Territorial Coordinators (CTC), Covenant Supporters (CS) and Signatories in the field of energy and climate policies. Artem Kharazyan, National Expert at EC Covenant of Mayors East Project, said the project was launched in 2008 and entered its active implementation stage in 2011.
The CoM East Project was launched in September 2011. The first phase of the project (2011-2015) covered 11 countries of EaP and CA regions. The second phase of the project (2016-2020) covers 6 countries of EaP region, he said.
