| Popis: |
A vast majority of the European population lives and works in cities, consuming an estimated 80% of the energy used in the EU. Local administrations, as the closest government level to citizens, are ideally placed to address climate issues in a comprehensive manner. In this field a most promising initiative is the Covenant of Mayors (EUMayors, 2013), a voluntary European movement involving local and regional committed to reduce CO2 emissions through increased energy efficiency and development of renewable energy sources. The reference document is EU 2020 (COM, 2010), the European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth aimed at achieve substantial objectives by 2020, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% compared to 1990 level; the increase to 20% of the share of renewable energy sources in the final energy consumption and a 20% increase in energy efficiency. As in general way, also for the accomplishment of the EU 2020 emission and energy targets, local authorities play a key role and Covenant of Mayor endorses and supports remarkably the efforts deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy policies. Currently, about 5000 signatories cities (EUMayors, 2013), with different size from small villages to major metropolitan areas are involved in the Covenant of Mayor. All the signatories are committed to implement sustainable energy policies to meet and exceed the EU 20% CO2 reduction objective through increased energy efficiency and development of renewable energy sources. These actions serve as examples for others to follow and an increasing number of municipalities are showing the political will to sign up to the Covenant. Finally, movements such as Covenant of Mayors endorse local authorities to respond several sustainability issues such as the strong social demand for better health, softer modes of transport, more natural areas in the cities, shorter circuits for food supply, shorter distances between working, living and leisure areas, reduced vulnerability to global economic shocks, especially for the poorest populations, and the creation of local and sustainable jobs. In other words, the endorsement of local authorities is crucial to improve the quality of life of their citizens and to face the challenge of sustainability. Another critical issue observed at urban level concerns the development of integrated solutions for drinking water usage and for water management. In fact, the 60% of all water is allocated to domestic human use (Toppeta, 2010) and by 2025 the water demand in municipal areas will increase by almost 80 billions cubic metres (Doobs, 2012). Worldwide, 44% of people are living in water stressed areas, and this number (o this rate) is expected to grow dramatically in the next future (Dirks and Keeling, 2009). Particularly, freshwater consumption is expected to rise of 25% by 2030, due largely to the increase in urban population (Washburn et al., 2010). There is the need to implement innovative solutions and at the same time to increase awareness among users, with the aim to locate distribution and to optimize usage of municipal drinking water |
