Global Covenant of Mayors, a dataset of GHG emissions for 6,200 cities in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean

Abstract

Abstract. The Paris Agreement has underlined the role of cities in combating climate change. The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) is the largest dedicated international initiative to promote climate action at city level, covering globally over 10,000 cities and almost half the population of the European Union (EU) by end of March 2020. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report denotes that there is a lack of comprehensive, consistent datasets of cities' Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions inventories. To address part of this gap, we present here a harmonised, complete and verified dataset of GHG inventories for 6,200 cities in European and Southern Mediterranean countries, signatories of the GCoM initiative. To complement the emission data reported, a set of ancillary data that have a direct or indirect potential impact on cities' climate action plans were collected from other databases, supporting further research on local climate action and monitoring the EU's progress on Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action. The dataset is archived and publicly available with the DOI number https://doi.org/10.2905/57A615EB-CFBC-435A-A8C5-553BD40F76C9.