"The Dutch advertising watchdog ruled that a KLM promotion telling customers they could fly carbon-emission free is misleading.

The ad’s tag line, “Be a hero, fly CO2 zero,” is an absolute claim, the Dutch Advertising Code Committee said in a verdict seen Friday by Bloomberg. As such, the company has the burden of proving the statement and didn’t meet that test, the committee said.

A spokesman for the airline, the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM, declined to comment.

While the ruling is limited to only one carrier, it touches on broader pressure on airlines to lower their carbon footprint and ‘flight-shaming’ campaigns to get people to stopping flying. Commercially viable alternatives like electric and hydrogen powered jetliners are at least a decade away so carriers are relying on measures like carbon offsetting to reduce impact."

Diederik Baazil reports for Bloomberg Green April 8, 2022. [2]