Sustainable energy action plans: monitoring the implementation of strategies for sustainability for municipalities in northen Italy

A considerable number of Italian municipalities joined the “Covenant of Majors” European Project, promoting and applying the planning energy strategies by mean of Sustainable Energy Action Plans. The European Commission, after two years requires a monitoring to verify if the carbon dioxide emissions reduction targets are achieved. The paper analyzes the results of SEAP monitoring for some municipalities in northern Italy. The analysis, which deepens the civil sector in detail, allows for a detailed examination and comparison of the different strategies proposed by the municipalities, highlighting critical aspects and potentialities. SEAP has been proven to be one of the most powerful and effective strategy to promote policies in municipalities to face climate changes. The targets for the reduction of climatic gas emissions have been achieved by 7 municipalities out of 12 with an advance of 2 years and the others are very close to this target.