The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld two complaints by climate change NGO Opportunity Green concern-ing environmental claims made by cruise travel agents Seascanner and Cruise Circle, about liquified natural gas (fossil LNG). The adverts related to cruises offered by MSC Cruises – one of the world’s biggest cruise companies – whose LNG advertising was already subject to scrutiny by the ASA just nine months ago.
The adverts touted environmental claims about MSC Cruises’ LNG-powered ships: MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia. In the case of Cruise Circle, a webpage selling cruises for the MSC Euribia ship used the claims “eco-friendly” and “the world’s cleanest marine fuel” to describe the fossil LNG that powers the ship.
A similar webpage selling cruises for the MSC World Europa ship on Seascanner’s website stated: “MSC World Europa also introduces cutting-edge environmental technology, including an advanced LNG-powered engine, making it one of the most eco-friendly cruise ships afloat”.
Opportunity Green’s complaint outlined how the adverts were misleading to consumers; contrary to being climate friendly, fossil LNG has devastating implications for the climate.
The ASA upheld both complaints, finding that the adverts breached several provisions of the UK non-broadcast advertising code (CAP code) and were likely to mislead. In reaching its decision on Seascanner, the ruling found:
“Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was a fossil fuel that primarily comprised methane and produced lower levels of carbon diox-ide (CO2) and other GHG emissions, such as sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide, than traditional marine fuel when burned. However, its production and use had other potentially negative environmental impacts, such as methane slip and leakage, which was the emission of unburned methane into the atmosphere, at all stages of the fuel’s life cycle, from production through to burning. We understood methane emissions were making a substantial contribution to climate change. We further understood LNG produced reduced, but still significant, CO2 emissions over its full lifecycle, which was not explained in the ad.”
The ruling on Seascanner also highlighted other environmental impacts of cruising that could harm marine life and ecosys-tems, such as water discharges. As the advert had not given information to put the impact of LNG or ‘environmental tech-nology’ into context, the ASA concluded that the environmental impact of the advertised cruise ship had not been adequately explained.
Similar findings on the lifecycle impacts of fossil LNG – the total environmental costs across its entire lifespan – were made in the ruling on Cruise Circle, making it unacceptable to make an absolute claim such as “eco-friendly”. The ASA also stated that evidence did not demonstrate that LNG was the least-polluting marine fuel globally. It said that advertisers must robustly substantiate the full lifecycle emissions of a cruise to support an environmental claim.
Both advertisers removed the claims from their website, and the ASA ruled that the ads must not appear again in the form complained of. The ASA told Cruise Circle to ensure that the basis of future environmental claims, and comparative claims, is made clear. Seascanner was told to ensure that ads featuring environmental claims did not mislead; the basis of environ-mental claims, and comparative claims, must be made clear and all material information must be stated, where the omission of that information was likely to mislead.
These rulings set a clear precedent for the cruise industry against advertising fossil LNG as ‘clean’, ‘eco-friendly’ or similar, in a way that will mislead consumers about its true climate impact.
Kirsty Mitchell, Legal Manager at Opportunity Green says:
“These rulings shine a light on the misleading claims being made within the cruise industry about the climate impact of LNG. This issue is systemic: over the last two years, Opportunity Green has identified, called out and legally challenged the veracity of environmental claims being made by cruise companies about LNG, a highly polluting fossil fuel. At last, the ASA’s rulings provide much-needed clarity. But we know there are more similar claims out there. Advertisers (and the wider cruise industry) have no excuse to ignore these rulings, or else risk facing the legal and reputational risks of LNG green-washing.”
Source: Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)