ABSTRACT
In July 2016, the European Commission presented a new set of measures by which it planned to accelerate the pace of emission reductions across economic sectors. This announcement was largely anticipated as it constituted the next logical step after the "success" of the Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 in Paris, in which the European Union (EU) had played a pivotal role. Environmental policy was not originally a core area for European politics at the birth of the European experiment. The Treaty of Rome in 1957 created a European Economic Community (EEC). Public expressions of environmentalism took the form of street demonstrations, non-violent direct action and boycotts. The revival of the nuclear arms race between the West and the Soviet Bloc had triggered the fear of nuclear war, provoking riots and protests throughout the West. To achieve the ambitious goals, leadership was instrumental in the early attempts to deploy renewables with such focus and deliberation.
