Luxair and twenty other airlines have pledged to change their practices regarding environmental claims that have been categorised as misleading by the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network, the European Commission said on Friday.
“All these airlines have committed to stop claiming that the CO2 emissions of a specific flight could be neutralised, offset, or directly reduced by consumer financial contributions to climate protection projects or for the use of alternative aviation fuels,” the commission stated.
In addition, the term “sustainable aviation fuel” should only be used with appropriate clarification and vague “green language” should be avoided under the agreement.
Flights have a major impact on the environment due to greenhouse gases and other emissions. Many airlines offer compensation at the time of booking – often financial support for a climate protection project such as reforestation.
However, this system, which critics refer to as “indulgence trading”, is not considered to be accurate, as it does not offset a passenger’s own specific CO2 emissions but contributes to climate protection in general. This gives air travellers the impression that they are flying climate neutrally.
Four points of criticism at Luxair
At Luxair, the four points of criticism – that have since been resolved – were the claim that the emissions of a particular flight could be offset by contributions to climate projects, the use of unclear or unfounded “green” terms or images or implicit environmental statements, the use of statements about future environmental targets such as “net zero” without appropriate justification and an unclear and non-transparent use of CO2 emissions calculators.
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Other airlines that committed to the changes include Air France, Brussels Airlines, Easyjet, Finnair, KLM, Lufthansa and Ryanair.
The agreement is “excellent news,” according to the European consumer protection umbrella organisation Beuc. Director General Agustín Reyna said: “It was high time that airlines stopped presenting flying as a sustainable option. Paying ‘green fares’ to plant trees can never guarantee that aircraft emissions will be removed from the air. This profit-driven business helps neither consumers nor the environment.”
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort using reporting from the DPA news agency. Translated using an AI tool and edited by Aaron Grunwald.)
