21 airlines to adjust misleading claims following action by European consumer authorities

21 European airlines will adjust their misleading sustainability claims. They will do so following a joint action led by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) together with other European consumer authorities (Belgium, Norway, and Spain). The airlines have committed to, going forward, communicating clearly, correctly and concretely about their sustainability efforts.
Martijn Ridderbos, Member of the Board of ACM, adds: “It’s important that consumers aren’t being misled by sustainability claims. With this action, we’re drawing a clear line. Claims that, for example, give the impression that the negative effects of a flight’s CO2 emissions can be compensated or neutralized by carbon-offset projects, are not allowed. It’s also positive that the aviation sector realizes this themselves, and that they will stop using these misleading claims.”

Commitments of the airlines

The airlines involved are Air Baltic, Air Dolomiti, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, EasyJet, Finnair, KLM, Lufthansa, Luxair, Norwegian, Ryanair, SAS, SWISS, TAP, Transavia France, Transavia CV, Volotea, Vueling, and Wizz Air. They have been confronted with their misleading claims and their sustainability communications. The airlines have discussed the following commitments:

• Clarifying that a flight’s CO2 emissions cannot be reduced (partially or otherwise) or neutralized by investing in climate projects or by paying extra for alternative fuels.
• Using only the term ‘sustainable aviation fuels’ if this is sufficiently substantiated.
• When making claims about sustainability efforts, they are not allowed to use absolute claims such as ‘sustainable’ or any thereto-related visual claims such as green leaves.
• Substantiating claims about future sustainability goals.
• Ensuring that any CO2 emissions calculations are displayed in a clear and transparent way.

European cooperation

Most airlines have implemented these adjustments. The national consumer protection authorities will monitor the implementations of these commitments. Airlines that still use misleading claims risk enforcement actions by the individual EU member states.
The European consumer authorities and the European Commission cooperate in the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network. ACM is part of this network. This joint action was launched following a complaint filed by the European consumer organization BEUC, which the Dutch Consumers’ Association (in Dutch: de Consumentenbond) is member of.