Monitoring and progress reports are essential to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) initiative. The local government must inform (report) its progress to the GCoM to receive its badges and have its profile updated on our regional and global websites. Local governments are invited to report as they develop diagnostic tools such as GHG Inventories, analysis of risks and vulnerabilities to climate change, and energy access and poverty assessments; define GHG reduction goals, climate adaptation objectives, and energy goals; and plan climate actions in mitigation and adaptation, and in improving energy access and fighting energy poverty. This can be done in any order, whenever it suits the local government context; for example, a city that has already defined adaptation actions may initiate its reporting process for this sector.
Once a local government has committed to the GCoM and concluded the stages related to the assessment, definition, and planning of objectives/goals, the city must regularly monitor the progress in implementing two-year-long plans to achieve the established objectives and goals. From the beginning, a solid support system and schedule must be put in place, and it must be an integral part of two climate action plans adopted by the city. This also involves a clear mechanism for reviewing and updating two plans as necessary.
Each local city and authority accompanies implementing the climate action plan per the rules applied locally and the provisions identified in the plans. Subsequent progress reports are sent through two officially recognized reporting platforms:
– Unified system for presenting CDP-ICLEI reports
See Chapter 8 Explanatory Guide to the Common Reporting Framework to learn more.