Astana accedes Covenant of Mayors in Brussels

According to deputy akim (governor) of Astana city Vassily Krylov, endorsing the document, entering the Covenant of Mayors means that we undertake obligations till 2020 on greenhouse gas emission abatement by 20 percent, increasing the share of renewable energy in the total energy supply system of the city by 20 percent and also reducing energy consumed by the city by 20 percent.

The signed Agreement is actual in connection with the forthcoming International exhibition EXPO-2017 themed "EXPO - Energy of the future," where Astana will present the best projects on energy saving, energy efficiency and renewable energy resources.

Besides, Mr. Krylov noted, currently the Astana Akimat was implementing a complex plan on energy saving till 2015. By the way, given the Covenant of Mayors, additional measures on energy efficiency of the Astana facilities should be taken.

In turn, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso noted that cities "everywhere from Astana, Kazakhstan and to Sale, Morocco use the opportunities of the Covenant of Mayors in order to give a further impetus to their efforts on rational energy usage."

The head of the European Commission stressed that terms "economy growth" and "green technologies' development" do not contradict one another. According to him, above 300 thousand of new employment opportunities have been provided in the renewable energy resources' field for the last five years in Europe. The whole world market for green technologies is estimated at USD 1 trillion per year, and will double by 2020.

Addressing the representatives of the Covenant of Mayors, former governor of California and founding Chair of the "R20 - Regions of Climate Action" Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "I see that you really want to do everything to achieve the goal of energy efficiency. Each of you can contribute to the fight against climate change. Each of you can help create energy-efficient future. Most importantly - do not forget that we need to think about the welfare of the citizens in the first place. If we want to show an example to the world, it is time to abandon the long conversations on the need to combat climate change. We must begin to act now. "

The Covenant of Mayors is a European cooperation movement involving local, regional and national authorities. Signatories of the Covenant of Mayors voluntarily commit themselves to increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources on their territories. By their commitment, they support the European Union 20% CO2 reduction objective to be reached by 2020.

After the European Union climate and energy package was adopted in 2008, the European Commission launched the Covenant of Mayors to be endorsed and support the efforts deployed by local authorities in implementation of sustainable energy policies.