Pledges can be made by:

• organisations, such as a city, association, charity, school, or university;
• informal groups, like a team of work colleagues, neighbours, or friends.

They need to be located or operating in an EU Member State and respect the European Climate Pact’s values and principles.

Pledges from business entities are no longer accepted. We fully appreciate that companies from different sectors and countries in the EU may be at different stages of their climate and environmental journeys. We would like to encourage them all to continue towards climate neutrality and reducing their environmental footprint including by demonstrating real commitment to a net zero future. We need a contribution from all actors to accelerate the green transition by 2050.

Alternatively, companies can apply to the Sustainable Consumption Pledge (for non-food, including services and retail) and the EU Code of conduct on responsible food business and marketing practices (for food and drinks).

• Visibility and recognition of your contribution to the European Climate Pact, e.g., on the Pact website or in social media
• Access to communication tools, e.g., Day of Action toolkit
• Opportunities to network, learn and share knowledge

Pledges should contribute to fighting climate change; the action taken should help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More broadly, they can also address environmental degradation and sustainability.

Pledges can relate to the way organisations and groups operate, produce, communicate, or motivate citizens, employees, customers or stakeholders to take action.

Pledges must go beyond what is required by legislation.

It is also possible to pledge more than once and in different combinations.

There are two levels of ambition for a pledge:

• North Star – ambitious actions that contribute to greatly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and, in turn, to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement – limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. These actions are also consistent with the EU’s objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. North Star pledges should include an emissions reduction target and a date by which this target should be achieved.
• Pathway – actions that cover a wide range of climate-friendly activities. They can represent a first commitment to climate action, leading to bolder steps for more experienced actors and to defining targets.

Each pledge should be fully transparent and, to the greatest extent possible, the results should be measurable.

A pledge can be created by choosing from a list of examples (based on pledges made by other organisations and groups) or by making a brand-new pledge.

The following details are required:

• The name and type of the organisation or group
• The contact details of the authorised person making the pledge on behalf of the organisation or group
• Information about the pledge, including a description, key targets, timelines and, if appropriate, a roadmap
• A website URL, where the details of the pledge and its progress updates will be publicly available
• The duration of the pledge and frequency of progress updates

Pledgers can report on progress every 3, 6, 9 or 12 months – to share lessons learnt, ensure transparency, and demonstrate progress in moving towards the target. If updates are not shared according to the schedule chosen, or at least once a year, the pledger risk classification as unverified, inactive or removal from the Pact pledge list.

Local government and state authorities are expected to use a recognised reporting and verification scheme to ensure the integrity of the pledge. For example, some cities report through MyCovenant or the CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System. 

Once the pledge is submitted, the information is processed. The Pact’s approach to validation is based on assessments of varying stringency, depending on the organisation’s size and sector relationships. All accepted pledges will be made visible on the Pact website. 

The Pact Secretariat supports the pledging process for all organisations and groups.