Polotsk will sign a declaration on joining the European Covenant of Mayors

September 20, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. The declaration on Polotsk's accession to the Covenant of Mayors will be signed in Friedrichshafen on September 27, the Chairman of the Polotsk City Executive Committee, Alexander Poznyak, informed a BELTA correspondent.

Thus, Polotsk will become the first Belarusian city to undertake commitments to implement the EU strategy known as "20-20-20". The strategy aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20%, increase the share of alternative energy sources to 20%, and improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. "Joining the Covenant of Mayors will open up access for Polotsk to European innovative energy-saving technologies, expand the scientific and technical potential of the oldest Belarusian city, and help establish partnerships with other participants of the Covenant of Mayors," Alexander Poznyak is convinced.

The first step towards achieving the goal will be the implementation of the Polotsk Sustainable Energy Development Plan within the framework of the project "Sustainable Energy Development in ENPI Partner Countries - Towards the Covenant of Mayors". A group of international experts from the Spanish company "Bionet" and the Institute of Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus worked on creating the plan. Based on the analysis of the current situation in energy consumption and energy saving, and the results of energy audits of 10 Polotsk facilities conducted by specialists from the Institute of Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Spanish specialists proposed a plan for the city to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2020 by implementing measures to reduce consumption and stimulate the use of renewable energy sources in the city. In particular, energy-saving measures are proposed to be implemented in public and residential buildings, in the city lighting system, in public and private transport, and at utility enterprises. In addition, experts have proposed to make wider use of local and renewable energy sources for electricity generation.

As reported by Alexander Poznyak, the pilot project of the sustainable energy development plan will be the installation of energy-saving lamps on Frantsisk Skorina Avenue, and possibly, energy-saving traffic lights will appear in the city later. Another key area, as advised by experts, will be the development of alternative energy sources.

Polotsk's partners in the project are the administrations of the cities of Friedrichshafen (lead partner, Germany), Murcia (Spain), Salé (Morocco), and the Mediterranean Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (France).

The project "SURE: Sustainable Energy Development in Cities of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument - Towards the Covenant of Mayors" is being implemented under the EU CIUDAD program. The project is designed for 30 months, and its budget is about 790 thousand euros. The project aims to promote sustainable energy development in two cities of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) - Polotsk and Salé (Morocco) - by joining the Covenant of Mayors and undertaking commitments to implement the EU "20-20-20" strategy.

More than 2,000 cities have signed the Covenant of Mayors.-0-