The Nature and Role of SEAPS for Environmental Regulation in the Multilevel Planning System

The Covenant of Mayors-Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) is a crucial tool for local authorities to face climate change, starting by addressing the specific problem of CO2 emissions reduction through a comprehensive approach involving several local activities. At the same time, the Covenant of Mayors-SEAP is of central interest for environmental regulation because it is both a local and transnational tool. Moreover, local authorities commit themselves in a voluntary manner to meeting a European target which is mandatory for Member States only. As such, the Covenant is an alternative to state level regulation and to the "command and control" approach. The SEAP consequently can be considered a kind of self-regulation. However, the efficacy of this new way of dealing with environmental regulation has yet to be proven. This will depend on the capacity of the SEAPs to implement adopted policies and to change public and private behaviors.These challenges are analyzed by focusing on two topics: the juridical nature of the SEAPs, and how regulation might increase the current incentives which motivate mayors to join the Covenant and maintain their commitments in the medium-long term. The legal classification of SEAPs is of great practical relevance because it might entail the use of the prospective evaluation of impacts and consultations in decision-making; the justification of choices (par. 2); and shape of the relationship with other different but related plans, even if many challenges are unsolved due to the hybrid nature of many SEAPs and the uncertainty about how SEAPs are ranked in the planning system (par. 3). At the same time, given the considerable success of the Covenant in terms of membership, it is important to support the implementation of SEAPs by a rigorous use of the (few) tools of accountability of local politicians to citizens and the Covenant partners (par. 4), and by a reward system in order to provide incentives to carry on reduction projects (par. 5)