Is KLM misleading consumers when the Dutch company advertises its ‘green’ activities? What can an airline claim about its attempts to fly more sustainably and when is that ‘greenwashing’?
The court in Amsterdam must now consider these questions now that three Dutch climate organizations have been declared admissible in a case against KLM.
The court in Amsterdam determined on Wednesday that the organizations Fossil Free NL, Advertising Fossil Free and ClientEarth are sufficiently representative to bring a lawsuit against KLM. The climate groups believe that the company has made “misleading sustainability claims”. That would be contrary to the European directive on unfair commercial practices.
The three organizations demand that KLM cease all expressions of its now discontinued PR campaign Fly Responsibly, and that it refrains from similar sustainable marketing. KLM should also never again claim that climate damage caused by flying can be reduced by so-called CO2-compensation. Planting trees to buy off emissions does not work, the climate groups say.
During the first hearing of the case in April, KLM reported that it had stopped Fly Responsibly. The lawyer of the three climate groups then showed recent photos of a large advertising column at Schiphol with the offending text.
KLM stated that the climate organizations provide incorrect information to the public. Moreover, according to the airline, the case does not belong to the courts, but to the Advertising Code Committee (RCC). KLM’s own regulator of the advertising industry has repeatedly reprimanded KLM for greenwashing. An admonition from the RCC has little or no effect, according to Fossielvrij NL and partners.
US case against Delta
According to the complainants, this case against KLM is one of the first lawsuits against greenwashing – in which a company pretends to be more sustainable than it is – in the world. Last week it was announced that a similar lawsuit will be played in the US. A customer of Delta Air Lines, partner and shareholder of Air France-KLM, has started legal proceedings against the American airline.
The customer is challenging Delta’s claim to be the world’s first CO2neutral airline. Abroad, advertising regulators have already ruled against green claims from airlines, among others.
In response to the verdict, KLM says: “KLM is ambitious when it comes to its climate approach and would like to involve its customers in the subject. We are learning more and more about sustainability communication and we keep looking at our communications to determine what can be done better and more transparently.”
KLM emphasizes that the nineteen expressions that are central to this case are no longer used. The company looks forward to the substantive handling of the case with confidence.