< Denmark holds the Presidency of the EU Council from 1 July until 31 December 2002. >                                                                                

The Danish Presidency of the EU announced that development must be sustainable and environmental preservation and improvement are major tasks for all government in Europe. The programme also pointed out Danish Presidency will work for:
- entry into force of Kyoto Protocol as soon as possible, by urging non-member countries to ratify it;
- fulfillment of the EU's commitment, under the Protocol, to cut its greenhouse gas emission;
- political agreement on conditions for CO2 emissions trading;
- initiation of work on new framework legislation on chemicals, based on the precautionary principle and greater responsibility on the part of industry;
- a halt of the decline in biodiversity as from 2010 at the latest;
- labelling and traceability of generically modified organisms;
- new regulatory instruments in environmental policy, which applies in particular to the proposed Directive on environmental liability, requiring the polluter to pay for clean-up operations, etc.

In addition, EU Environment Ministers Meeting was proposed in prior to World Summit on Sustainable Development on July 19 to 21, 2002.

< U.S. Energy Information Administration announced that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2001 were down 1.1 percent from 2000 levels >

Energy Information Administration(EIA), U.S. Department of Energy, reported that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels in 2001 were down 1.1 percent from 2000 level- decreasing from 1,558 to 1,540 million metric tons of carbon equivalent.

It also reported 1.1 percent decline in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to be the first such fall since 1991.

To look at the emission trends by sectors, emission from industrial sector reduced by 9.1%; whereas emission from residential, commercial, and transportation increased by 1.8, 6.2 and 0.6% respectively. As a whole, emission reduced by 1.1 %. These figures show that reduction in industries was the main cause of emission reduction; on the other hand, commercial and residential emission were still increasing.

To look at the emission trends by fuel type, emission from natural gas and coal reduced 4.6% and 1.9% respectively; whereas emission from petroleum increased by 1.3%.

EIA analysed this decline reflected slower economic growth, reductions in industrial energy consumption, and warmer weather resulting in less fossil fuel consumption.