Sumy is the administrative, economic and cultural center of Sumy Oblast. The total area of the city is 95.39 km2. As of 1 January 2015, population of Sumy was 268,600 persons.

The cityhas years of experience in cooperating with the international technical assistance projects in different sectors, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Northern Environmental Financial Corporation (NEFCO) and others.

The Department of Economics, Energy Savingand Financing of Social Protection Programs is functioning on the basis of the Department of Finance, Economics and Investments of the Sumy City Council.One of the first documents on sustainable municipal economic development appeared in Sumy almost ten years ago. In 2007, in cooperation with the USAID Municipal Economic Development Project, the Strategic Economic Development Plan of Sumy for 2007-2012 was developed.

In 2014, after signing of the relevant Memorandum, cooperation started between the city and the USAID Municipal Energy Reform Project in Ukraine (hereinafter – the USAID Project). The Memorandum identified four main areas of work for municipal energy efficiency improvement and raising funds to finance the relevant measures:

1) supporting the development of a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP);

2) improving the energy management system;

3) assisting in finding investments; and

4) conducting information campaigns

On 29 September 2015, with support of the USAID Project, the city joined the leading initiative of the European Union – the Covenant of Mayors. The Covenant’s signatories commit to reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020, and thus contribute to the development of an environmentally oriented economy and quality of life improvement.