"We want to make progress on the EU Commission's plans to extend emissions trading to air traffic," Tiefensee told the business daily Handelsblatt.

Berlin's aim was to secure fundamental agreement on the issue among EU member states during the six-month term of the German EU presidency starting in January, Tiefensee said.

On December 20, EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas is scheduled to present draft guidelines for including airlines in emissions trading, which currently only applies to power generators and energy-intensive industries.

The emissions trading system puts a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide that energy intensive companies can emit.

If a company overshoots its target, it must buy rights to do so from companies which undershoot their pollution target.