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05 POLICY LANDSCAPE
government invested USD 15 million for the purchase and
construction of solar streetlights. 90
Regulatory measures such as feed-in tariffs and net metering
policies also continue to be important tools for promoting the
deployment of renewable power capacity at the municipal
level. Originally adopted in developed countries in Europe and
North America, these mechanisms have begun to spread to the
local level in developing and emerging nations, including South
Africa. In 2015, Cape Town, South Africa began allowing the sale
of surplus energy from renewable energy installations into the
municipal grid system through a new net metering programme. 91
Elsewhere, Banff became Canada’s first municipality to offer a
local FIT programme, although on a very limited scale, supporting
only 26 rooftop solar PV systems. 92
Through their direct regulatory authorities, cities have instituted
obligations to drive the deployment of renewable energy
technologies. Several municipalities have enacted mandates
that range from utility obligations to purchase renewable power
to municipal building codes that mandate the installation of
renewable technologies such as solar water heaters. New
obligations build on existing municipal mandates in Europe,
India and the UAE. In 2015, Denman Prospect in the Australian
Capital Territory became Australia’s first suburb to mandate the
installation of solar PV systems (of at least 3 kW each) on all
new buildings within the territory. 93 Austin, Texas (United States)
mandated its utility to contract an additional 600 MW of solar PV
by 2019. 94
Municipalities have a critical role to play in promoting the
development of district heating and cooling networks and linking
them to renewable energy. In 2015, Amsterdam committed to
total decarbonisation of its district heating system and set an
immediate goal of increasing connections to a total of 230,000
houses by 2040 (a 70% increase). 95 The Austrian city of Graz
committed to increasing the share of solar thermal in its district
heating network by 20% through the installation of up to
500 MW th of new solar collectors. 96 Münster, Germany – the first
German city to divest from fossil fuels – invested in hot water
storage tanks in 2015 to utilise surplus grid electricity to generate
heat for injection into the city’s district heat network as part of a
plan to increase renewable energy penetration. 97
In the transport sector, several Chinese cities influenced national
policy in 2015 by working together to reverse a national cornbased
ethanol ban that has been in place since 2006, resulting
in the approval of new maize-based ethanol production plants. 98
National governments often have introduced biofuel blend
mandates as pilot initiatives in relatively small jurisdictions.
Kenya adopted an E10 mandate in the city of Kisumu; Mexico
established an E2 mandate in the city of Guadalajara, and aims
to expand the programme to Mexico City and Monterrey; and
Vietnam’s national E5 mandate was initially rolled out in a select
group of seven cities. 99
A quickly growing list of cities – primarily in Europe, North
America, Australia and Japan – are targetting the complete
transformation of their energy or power sectors through on-site
generation or the purchase of renewable power. In 2015, Byron
Shire, Coffs Harbour and Uralla in Australia; Oxford County and
Vancouver in Canada; and the US cities of Rochester (Minnesota)
and San Diego (California) joined numerous cities around the
world that have committed to going 100% renewable i . 100 ( R See
Reference Table R26.) Many cities already have achieved their
goals, including the US cities of Burlington (Vermont), Aspen
(Colorado) and Greensburg (Kansas), which all reached 100%
renewable electricity during 2015. 101
Major global and regional initiatives helped to advance the 100%
renewable energy movement in 2015. The Climate Summit for
Local Leaders, held in parallel with COP21, issued a declaration
in support of a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050;
it was signed by nearly 1,000 mayors from around the world. 102
This non-binding commitment builds on examples of leading
cities such as Copenhagen, Frankfurt, San Francisco, Sydney
and Stockholm. 103
Also in 2015, the Global 100% RE Campaign published 12 criteria
to help define the concept of 100% renewable energy for local
governments and to guide policy makers in initiating their
transition to 100% renewables. The Campaign also launched the
100% RE Cities and Regions network to enable peer-learning
and exchange among municipalities. 104 The Global 100% RE
Campaign, along with Europe’s 100% RES Communities and
RES Champions League, has brought additional attention to
municipal efforts aimed at achieving 100% renewable energy. 105
European cities have led in the advancement of local renewable
energy solutions through individual action as well as regionallevel
partnerships. The Covenant of Mayors began as a group
of European municipalities committed to meeting and exceeding
a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020, relative to a
recommended baseline year of 1990, through increased energy
efficiency and renewable energy deployment; new signatories as
of 2015 pledge a 40% reduction by 2030 (based on their own
Baseline Emission Inventory). Nearly 500 municipalities joined
during 2015, and the Covenant had 6,660 signatories by year’s
end. 106 The majority of the signatories also signed onto a new
Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, which calls for an
increase in energy efficiency and renewable energy of at least
27% by 2030 over the established baseline. 107 In December 2015,
both Covenant initiatives pledged to work together to advance
municipal efforts to scale up their low-carbon development
efforts. 108 Additionally, 2015 saw the Covenant of Mayors
expanded to include cities in sub-Saharan Africa. 109
The Compact of Mayors is a global initiative of voluntary city
pledges to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and enhance
resilience to climate change. By end-2015, the Compact had
received commitments from 428 cities with a combined
population of 376 million residents (or over 5% of the world’s
population); this makes it the largest such coalition of city
leaders by population. 110 Rio de Janeiro became the first city to
fully align with the principles outlined in the Compact of Mayors,
in August 2015, and was soon joined by Buenos Aires, Cape
Town, Copenhagen, Melbourne, New York, Oslo, San Francisco,
Stockholm, Sydney and Washington, D.C. 111 By year’s end, 43
cities were in compliance with the Compact ii . 112
i 100% renewable energy targets vary by municipality, with some focused exclusively on electricity and others targeting all energy, including heating and
cooling as well as transport.
ii Cities are deemed compliant according to the Compact when they register a commitment, take inventory, create reduction targets and establish a system
of measurement, and establish an action plan.
118