The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ordered Etihad Airways to remove two of its Facebook adverts over concerns it has “exaggerated” the environmental benefits of its flights.
The adverts, which were posted late last year, are the latest to fall foul of the ASA’s greenwashing laws. They had claimed Etihad’s flights carried a “smaller footprint” due to reduced single-use plastics on board and using “the most modern and efficient planes”.
The ads also stated that the UAE’s national carrier is “taking a louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation” and suggested that, by choosing to fly with Etihad instead of other airlines, passengers were “making a conscious choice for the planet”.
The ASA argued that these claims could not be sufficiently substantiated and concluded that reducing single-use plastics was not efficient evidence of “sustainable” aviation operations.
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The UK’s advertising watchdog also pointed out that while many airlines – including Etihad – are using modern aircraft to reduce emissions, air travel continues to “make a substantial contribution to climate change”.
In its defence, the airline argued that customers would understand that its services are not 100% sustainable at present and that reducing aviation emissions will be a “long-term, multi-faceted process”.
The ASA acknowledged that those working in aviation or environmental sustainability would appreciate this, but that the general public wouldn’t.
It also noted that the claim of “sustainable aviation” was not framed in the adverts as a long-term vision, which could give passengers the impression that more progress had already been made.
The regulator also questioned whether the airline was being “bolder” than its rivals on environmental improvements.
“While we noted steps were being taken by Etihad to reduce the environmental impact of its service, we understood that there were currently no initiatives or commercially viable technologies in operation within the aviation industry which would adequately substantiate an absolute green claim such as ‘sustainable aviation’ as we considered consumers would interpret it in this context,” the ASA said in a statement.
It ruled to ban the adverts on Wednesday (12 April).
