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Speaking about the 36th assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly, said:
"We want to work with our international partners to achieve a global solution to this global problem. If international negotiations deliver an effective solution then we will have achieved our goal through co-operation. But I am also clear that the UK, and the environment, cannot wait for ever.

"That is why we are reserving the right - if an international solution is not found - to act in the wider global interest by extending the EU emissions trading scheme to all flights arriving and departing from the European Union. My European colleagues and I will continue to spare no efforts in trying to reach an agreed way forward. This way we will show true global leadership - encouraging international consensus, while ensuring we are able to take tough measures to tackle climate change if others are unwilling or unable to do so."

At the ICAO Assembly, delegates from other countries expressed their wish to move forward on the basis of an international consensus, but insisted on an approach that would have effectively prevented the EU from introducing an emissions trading scheme for non-EU flights.

Ms Kelly added:
"We are committed to ensuring effective international action to deal with the environmental impact of international aviation. But the debate in ICAO has hardly progressed in the past three years. ICAO has not lived up to the leadership role given to it by the Kyoto Protocol. That is a very great failing that should concern us all and we may pursue these issues in other international fora."

The scheme would set a limit on the emissions an airline can emit.  If the airline does not use its limit, it can sell its remaining credits on the open market; if it needs to use more than its limit, it would need to buy credits from the open market.  The United States decidedly does not want to extend the emissions trading scheme to international flights.

Speaking in Brussels, C. Boyden Gray, the US Ambassador to the EU, said:
"You do not need to add any incentives to airlines to increase fares. I think it is going to end up in the courts. I do not see how it is going to get resolved politically.

"Ninety percent of the transport sector is cars, trucks and buses. High oil prices and tax do not seem to have reduced CO2. It is the fastest-growing sector in the EU and US and you ought to tackle that."

In a speech in May, Marion C. Blakey, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator, said:
"Europe is moving toward a unilateral imposition of an aviation emissions trading system. Trying to force a European solution on the world, given the different aviation sectors, economic circumstances, and environmental issues of countries, is unworkable, not to mention illegal. In Europe, there are factions working to curtail aviation growth regardless of the benefits we offer to the economy and quality of life."

John Byerly, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Transportation Affairs, said the controversy could turn into a bitter dispute similar to a long-running fight over a unilateral EU airline noise regulation in the 1990s. In 2001, the EU was forced to withdraw the regulation, following legal proceedings initiated by the US government.