At the initiative of the Province of Limburg, 41 municipalities in Limburg signed the ambitious Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy 2030 on Tuesday 13 March 2018 in order to express their commitment to unabatedly pursue the municipal climate policy. Consequently, efforts will be continued in coming years towards creating a climate-neutral province.
The European climate and energy goals are ambitious. Europe is aiming to achieve a total European emissions reduction of 40 percent by the year 2030 and a reduction as high as 80 to 95 percent by 2050. To achieve these goals, not only do national and regional governments have to engage in efforts to achieve a better climate, but also local administrators.
Limburg was the first province to gain the support of the municipalities for this initiative back in 2011 by signing the previous Covenant of Mayors for Energy. With the help of the province, the Limburg municipalities drew up climate plans and took part in various concrete projects revolving around energy savings and renovation, resulting in significant CO² reductions.
To achieve the more ambitious European reduction goal by 2030, a new Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy 2030 has been launched, this time focusing on working towards a resilient municipality that is able to withstand the effects of global warming. Not only is CO² reduction important, but also the current, additional focus on adaptation to climate change. Once again, the province is taking the lead in supporting the municipalities and indicating which measures can be taken to deal with such change. These measures are highly diverse and local and include the creation of urban green belts (cooling effect), installation of buffer basins (to prevent flooding) and heat measures during events.
