Sweden’s Consumers and the European consumer organization BEUC have reported SAS, Norwegian, Ryanair and 14 other airlines for unfair business practices.
– It is offensive when airlines claim to be green and sustainable when a solution is in fact very far away, says Jan Bertoft, general secretary.
22 of BEUC’s member organizations from a total of 18 countries submitted a notification to CPC, the network for the EU’s consumer authorities, which includes the Swedish Consumer Agency.
In the report, they believe that the airlines engage in greenwashing in their marketing.
– We want to see a proper review of the marketing of these 17 airlines and the entire industry. We need to put a stop to airlines trying to pretend that flying is sustainable. It must sting if you lie in your advertising, says Jan Bertoft.
Consumers must be compensated
Because the effect of climate offsets, according to BEUC, is so uncertain, they are now demanding that airlines refund offsets to consumers.
– There is no consumption that is carbon dioxide neutral. The expression should be banned. Greenwashing is an epidemic and this is one of the clearest if most offensive examples, says Jan Bertoft.
Ursula Pachl, deputy director of BEUC, also calls on the authorities to crack down on airlines that make claims about “carbon offset” or “carbon neutral” travel.
– Regardless of whether you pay an extra carbon dioxide supplement or not, your flight will still cause climate-damaging emissions. When many people want to travel more sustainably, the airlines should stop selling services that are falsely supposed to soothe a bad conscience.
New report shows shortcomings
In a new report from BEUC, they highlight three statements in particular that they believe are misleading:
• That additional fees can “neutralize” or “offset” carbon dioxide emissions. It is still very controversial to what extent compensation actually works or not.
• That extra fees promote the development of sustainable aviation fuels. They are not available on the market except in very limited quantities today. And according to the EU law that was recently decided on, it is about very small shares of the total amount of aviation fuel for a foreseeable period of time.
• That aviation can be “sustainable”, “responsible” and “green”. It is misleading to suggest that aviation is sustainable. There is no airline that can prevent the emission of greenhouse gases today. And forecasts indicate that emissions will continue to increase as air traffic increases.