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Twenty airlines, including Brussels Airlines, were reprimanded on Tuesday by the European Commission and national consumer authorities for “misleading greenwashing claims”. They are given 30 days to comply with European consumer law, otherwise sanctions may follow.
In June last year, more than twenty European consumer organizations, including Testaankoop, filed a complaint for greenwashing against a total of seventeen airlines, including those of the Lufthansa group – to which Brussels Airlines belongs -, Air France, KLM and Ryanair. The complaint was filed with the European Commission and the Network of EU National Consumer Authorities (CPC).
What is greenwashing?
Greenwashing is a practice in which a company or organization makes unfounded environmental claims to give itself a greener image. It is a form of disinformation and thus essentially corresponds to the deliberate spreading of false or misleading information. It manifests itself not only in unfounded arguments and statements, but also in ‘green-sounding’ language. In addition, it is possible for a product to change its look, making it look more sustainable, without anything having changed in its sustainability. This misleads consumers, posing significant risks to both the environment and society.
Misleading information
The European Commission and the CPC Network identified several potentially misleading environmental claims on airline websites and apps. In this way, they create the false impression that as a consumer you can compensate for the CO2 emissions of a flight by paying a surcharge for either the financing of climate projects or the use of “sustainable aviation fuel”.
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In addition, they use terms such as green, sustainable, responsible, or they use green colors or nature images. These are all implicit environmental claims that can mislead consumers about the environmental impact of a highly polluting industry such as aviation.
The airlines also use dubious CO2 calculators with insufficient information on the calculation method or compare the emissions of flights without providing sufficient and accurate information on the elements of the comparison.
The twenty airlines were made aware of the potentially misleading environmental claims. They now have 30 days to submit proposals to address the concerns of the CPC authorities. If the airlines involved do not provide the necessary solutions, sanctions may follow.
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