21 airlines commit to stop greenwashing following a BEUC complaint

Following a complaint by BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, 21 major airlines have committed to stop using claims that mislead consumers about the real impact of flying on the environment. This was announced by the European Commission today, concluding a 1.5-year investigation by national consumer authorities. [1]

BEUC launched the action in June 2023 with 23 of its member organisations [2] and kept monitoring the market since then. An evaluation two years on, in June 2025, showed that airlines’ greenwashing was still rife despite some improvements.

Agustín Reyna, Director General of BEUC, commented:

“It is excellent news airlines have agreed to stop luring consumers with green promises following our complaint to the European Commission. It was high time airlines stopped painting flying as a sustainable option. Paying ‘green fares’ to plant trees can never guarantee to suck aircraft emissions out of the air. This money-making business does not help consumers nor the environment.

“It is commendable that the European Commission and national authorities are planning to monitor whether airlines stick to their words and fine them otherwise. We fully support the authorities’ intention to look at the practices of other airlines so all play by the same rules.”

Background

BEUC and members identified practices which breach the European Unfair Commercial Practices Directive:

• Claims that paying extra credits can “offset”, “neutralise”, or “compensate” the CO2 emissions of a flight are factually incorrect.
• Airlines are misleading consumers when charging them more to contribute to the development of ‘Sustainable Aviation Fuels’ (SAFs). Such fuels are not market-ready and will at best only represent a minor share in planes’ kerosene tanks. SAFs saved 0.5% of EU’s aviation emissions in 2024, far from compensating the 8% increase of CO2 emissions due to growing air traffic.
• Implying that air travel can be “sustainable”, “responsible” and “green” is deceptive. None of the strategies deployed by the aviation sector are currently able to prevent Greenhouse Gas emissions.

More information on this action: https://www.beuc.eu/enforcement/green-flying

[1]  Work was carried out by consumer authorities from Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and Norway, under the coordination of the European Commission.
[2] Members are Altroconsumo in Italy, DECO in Portugal, Асоциация Активни потребители/Active consumers in Bulgaria, Forbrugerrådet Tænk in Denmark, EKPIZO in Greece, CLCV and UFC-Que Choisir in France, OCU, CECU and ASUFIN in Spain, Tudatos Vásárlók Egyesülete in Hungary, Fundacja Konsumentów and Federacja Konsumentów in Poland, Testachats/Testaankoop in Belgium, Spoločnosť ochrany spotrebiteľov (S.O.S.) in Slovakia, Kuluttajaliitto – Konsumentförbundet ry in Finland, Forbrukerrådet in Norway, Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband in Germany, Sveriges Konsumenter in Sweden, Arbeiterkammer in Austria, Fédération romande des consommateurs in Switzerland, Zveza potrošnikov Slovenije in Slovenia, Consumentenbond (The Netherlands).