Two airlines have been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making misleading environmental claims related to carbon offsetting.
The regulator upheld complaints against Qatar Airways and Eurowings as part of a wider probe into carbon offsetting claims in the aviation sector.
In both cases, the ASA found ads gave the impression that passengers could fully offset their carbon emissions from flights.
Two LinkedIn ads promoting Qatar Airways’ Beyond Business scheme claimed customers could ‘bulk offset the carbon emissions for your past and future flights’ and ‘travel consciously by offsetting your flight’s carbon footprint’.
The ASA said consumers were likely to interpret these as meaning emissions from specific flights could be fully offset, which had not been substantiated.
The airline provided evidence of a verified offsetting programme that had been developed with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), but the ASA said this did not prove the environmental impact of flights was reduced.
It said: “We considered consumers who saw both ads would take a positive impression of Qatar Airways in relation to the environmental impact of flights taken with the airline.
“Specifically, that it was possible to fully offset the carbon emissions from a specific flight, or flights, with the airline.
“However, while the evidence demonstrated the existence and operation of an offsetting programme, it did not show the carbon emissions from specific past or future flights booked with Qatar Airways would be fully offset through the scheme or that the environmental impact of the flights was reduced.”
Eurowings faced a similar ruling over a Google ad stating travellers could fly ‘more eco-friendly’ and ‘climate-consciously’ by offsetting ‘up to 100%’ of emissions.
The ASA concluded the claim suggested passengers could fully offset emissions from a specific flight but said it had not seen evidence to support this.
Both rulings were upheld under rules covering misleading advertising, substantiation and environmental claims.
The ads have since been removed, and ASA confirmed both ads ‘must not appear again in the form investigated’ and instructed the airlines to ensure future marketing does not imply that flight emissions can be fully offset without robust evidence.
The regulator said the investigations form part of ongoing work using AI-led monitoring to identify potentially misleading environmental claims in travel advertising.
