‘Above all,” Talleyrand warned his supporters, “not too much zeal.”
In recent months a torrent of directives, initiatives and mandatory targets to cut carbon emissions has poured from the Commission. The list includes the world’s toughest limits on car emissions, a big boost for biofuels and a doubling of the 2020 target for the percentage of renewables (wind, solar power, hydro, etc.) in Europe’s energy supplies.
Still more proposals — for raising energy efficiency standards sharply on consumer products and curbing aviation emissions — are in the pipeline.