Flattering to deceive

The EU and UK crackdown begins

The Amsterdam judgment was followed in April by the European Commission announcing it had written to 20 airlines after “identifying several types of potentially misleading green claims”. The move was in response to a complaint from BEUC, the European representative body for national consumer groups. Areas of concern included:
• Use of the term “sustainable aviation fuel”;
• Use of terms such as “green”, “sustainable” or “responsible” in an absolute way;
• Claiming a movement to net zero emissions without clear, verifiable commitments, targets and independent monitoring;
• Presenting consumers with an unsubstantiated CO2 calcuator for specific flights;
• Presenting consumers with unsubstantiated emissions comparisons for different flights.

In the UK, meanwhile, the Competition and Markets Authority and Advertising Standards Authority “have both expressed interest in tackling the greenwashing of goods and services by businesses,” says Association of British Travel Agents solicitor Meera Tharmarajah. “We know they are aligned in their expectations of companies when communicating about environmental credentials, and we have seen the ASA investigate and rule against a number of travel companies’ advertising.”

In Iine with a Green Claims Code imposed by the CMA, the ASA censured ads by Air France, Etihad and Lufthansa in December 2023, and by Virgin Atlantic in August 2024.

White is confident the Amsterdam judgment will lead to more legal action against airlines throughout Europe if they mislead again. “It’s not a binding precedent on all other European courts but it is a persuasive precedent because the law that the case was about is European consumer protection law,” he says. “It is the same law as in Germany, Poland and also the UK, which hasn’t changed since Brexit.”

Taylor agrees that “we will continue to see a hardening of legislation around climate law.” This includes the EU’s Green Claims Directive, currently in its final stages of legislative approval. The directive provides for fines of up to 4 per cent of annual turnover for corporate transgressors. Taylor notes that “the win rate for litigating over greenwashing is higher than in other areas of law”, and that NGOs are increasingly litigating alongside regulators and other government bodies.

Opinion is divided over whether airlines greenwash deliberately. White believes some carriers have an agenda to reduce opposition to commercial expansion by convincing the public that emissions can be lowered.

But Julien Etchanchu, senior director for sustainability with BCD Travel’s consulting wing Advito is “not sure. I don’t think airlines are bad guys doing greenwashing. I think they believe in their initiatives. I see a lack of education in the industry.”