On 23rd October 2001 the European Commission presented the proposal for a directive establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community. The proposal plans a collective European approach to trading with emission allowances, which should come into effect by 2005. The objective of this workshop, that took place one year after the publication of the proposal, was to gain an overall view of the discussion process and to draw up a first summary.

This workshop organised by Ecologic offered expert policy-makers and researchers from both sides of the Atlantic a forum for discussing the current state of international environmental policy and transatlantic cooperation.

Parallel to the integration process at the European level, similar processes take place within the Member States as well. With this perspective in mind the project "Best Practices for Integrating Environmental Protection Requirements into other Sector Policies" aims to highlight the integration processes in the Member States and to gain from them experiences for the further progression of the process.

The objective of the workshop "Soil Protection within the European Union", which took place on 9 - 11 November 1998 in Bonn, is to present and to discuss the different strategies and options for protecting soils on the European level. This is the first time that the development of soil protection policies is treated as a separate policy area and that it makes the subject of an European workshop.