The European Community is the only supranational entity with legally constituted policy sovereignty over its member countries. However, attempts to establish EC policy on global warming have coincided with intensifying conflict over moves to greater monetary and political union. The roles of The Netherlands, Germany, and the UK are contrasted in some detail, especially in relation to degrees of interventionism. The study concludes that a proposed carbon tax is likely to be favoured as leaving the least footprint of central political authority. However, the Community has also developed considerable informal sophistication to compensate for the formal limitations of its authority over member states. This is influenced by a network of NGOs able to pursue policy aims at the local level.