After more than a decade of inaction by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN body charged by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol with tackling aviation’s contribution to climate change, the EU announced in 2008 that it would introduce emissions trading for flights involving EU airports from 2012. This proved highly unpopular among airlines in leading non-European countries – notably the USA, China and India – and China threatened to suspend orders for 45 long-haul Airbus A330 placed by four Chinese airlines.

然而，尽管声称，涉及非欧盟机场的航班的排放是违反国际主权的抵押，但2011年，一批美国航空公司的法律挑战在2012年1月1日生效。但是last November, the EU agreed to delay charging for emissions of international flights for one year, to allow ICAO time to reach a global deal – this agreement became known as ‘stop the clock’. The EU has always said it preferred a global scheme rather than regional action.

根据路透社，空中客车总统的一封信，Fabrice Brogier建议商业压力落后于“停止时钟”决定。Bregier wrote to Li Jiaxiang, the government official in charge of the Chinese civil aviation administration, just four days after the ‘stop the clock’ decision was announced, saying Airbus had been ‘very active’ in supporting China’s preference for a global emissions trading system. China responded last month by confirming part of the 45-plane suspended order.

T＆E Aviation Manager Bill Hemmings说：'空中客车在这种广阔的时尚时，空中客车队将欧盟汇集了欧盟的极为严峻的事项。空中客车已经从欧盟享有大规模的财政支持，因为它是欧洲，但现在似乎已经在其法律义务之前提出了自己的商业利益，以维护欧洲公民的基石欧盟环境法。还有英国人和德国政府的问题询问，所有这些都有在空中客车的母公司EAD中有重大索赔，他希望通过空中客车的游说夺取中国的威胁。我们如果我们的政府在欧洲外交政策中递交中国否决权，我们在哪里？'

路透社引用BREGIER在他给中国的信中说：“通过我们的共同努力，我们已经设法确保中国航空公司不公平地受计划的影响，如前计划的计划。我希望我们在空中客车能够清楚地展示我们对中国航空的强大支持。

欧盟表示，如果在国际民航组织的三年内大会就达成了关于全球排放交易计划的协议，其时钟将重新启动。