On September 27, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The Declaration on Polotsk's accession to the Covenant of Mayors was signed today in Friedrichshafen (Germany), the Chairman of the Polotsk City Executive Committee, Alexander Poznyak, informed a BELTA correspondent. The solemn ceremony was held in the presence of the mayors of Friedrichshafen, Murcia (Spain), representatives of the public and European media. Thus, Polotsk became the first Belarusian city to undertake commitments to implement the EU's "20-20-20" strategy. Its goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20%, increase the share of alternative energy sources to 20%, and improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. "Accession to the Covenant of Mayors opens up access for Polotsk to European innovative energy-saving technologies, will expand the scientific and technical potential of the oldest Belarusian city, and will help establish partnerships with other signatories of the Covenant of Mayors," Alexander Poznyak is convinced. The first step will be the implementation of the Sustainable Energy Development Plan of Polotsk under the project "Sustainable Energy Development in Cities of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument - on the Path to the Covenant of Mayors". A group of international experts from the Spanish company "Bionet" and the Institute of Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus worked on the plan. Based on the analysis of the current situation in energy consumption and energy saving, and the results of energy audits of ten Polotsk facilities conducted by specialists from the Institute of Energy of the National Academy of Sciences, the Spanish specialists proposed a plan for the city to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by implementing measures to reduce consumption and stimulate the use of renewable energy sources in the city. In particular, energy-saving measures are proposed to be implemented in municipal and residential buildings, in the city lighting system, in urban and private transport, and at utility enterprises. In addition, experts have proposed to make wider use of local and renewable energy sources for electricity generation. As Alexander Poznyak reported, the pilot project of the sustainable energy development plan will be the installation of energy-saving lamps on Francysk Skaryna Avenue, and then energy-saving traffic lights may appear in the city. Another key area, as advised by the experts, will be the development of alternative energy sources.