Under EU legislation, from January 1 all flights to or from Europe will have to buy carbon permits to help offset their emissions under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) -- the 27 member bloc's prime tool for trying to curb the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

Last week, in the U.S. Congress, where environmental issues have become a flashpoint between Republicans and President Barack Obama's Democrats, the lower house passed a bill making it illegal for airlines to comply with the EU's law.

On Wednesday this week, a council meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada is also expected to take up the airlines' cause as per a Reuters report.

EU lawyers have said any decision by the ICAO council would not be legally binding, but could be a step toward a formal dispute procedure, in which the president of ICAO would mediate.

An ICAO council working paper said the law, unilaterally passed by the EU, posed "major challenges and risks for aircraft operators".

EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the legislation was designed to address "the vertiginous growth in carbon emissions from aviation".

"Such growth scenarios are completely at odds with the internationally agreed objective of holding global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit)," she wrote in an opinion piece carried on Reuters.

An EU source said the most likely outcome on Wednesday was that the ICAO council would vote through a set of resolutions.

Of the 36 states on the council, 26, including the United States, China and Russia, would call on the EU and its member states to cease making flights by non-EU carriers fall under the remit of its ETS.

They would also adopt a declaration the 26 states made in New Delhi at the end of September, saying the EU plans were discriminatory and breached international laws.

LONG LEGAL BATTLE

Already the airlines have taken their opposition to European courts.

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