A life-size hashtag #SaveTheSea on the side of their polluting cruise ship, and claims that liquefied gas is the ‘cleanest fuel’: cruise giant MSC Cruises is getting out of hand. That is why we went to the Advertising Code Authority in April, together with Reclamejagers and Advocates for the Future. They proved us right: MSC is making misleading claims about sustainability.
What does this ruling mean, and what claims are MSC Cruises no longer allowed to make?
MSC Cruises may no longer pretend that a cruise is sustainable
This is greenwashing according to the Advertising Code Authority:
- #SaveTheSea
- ‘Cruising the blue in a green way’
- ‘We put environmental responsibility at the heart of everything we do’
Let’s be clear. Taking a cruise is one of the most polluting ways to take a holiday. Just when more and more people are concerned about the climate and want to reduce their own emissions, MSC Cruises is trying to get customers on board with peace of mind. With blatant texts like ‘Save the Sea’ or ‘Cruising the blue in a green way’, this mega-polluter is pretending to be our saviour. The Advertising Code Authority has ruled that this is misleading. MSC Cruises should not pretend to be greener than it is.
MSC Cruises misleading about liquefied gas being the ‘cleanest’ fuel
This is greenwashing according to the Advertising Code Authority:
- ‘Achieved with state-of-the-art energy’
- ‘The new ships are powered by one of the cleanest marine fuels: Liquified Natural Gas’
Since last year, MSC owns two cruise ships that can run on fossil liquefied natural gas (LNG); their other 20 ships run on fuel oil. MSC Cruises is proud of their new megaships, presenting liquefied gas as the ‘cleanest fuel’. In an advert it talks about the ‘newest energy’ which may give consumers the idea that the ships run on renewable fuels. The Advertising Code Authority has judged that this is misleading.
In reality, sailing on liquid gas leads to huge climate damage. Liquefied gas often comes from the United States, where the gas is extracted by fracking. This involves spraying masses of polluting chemicals into the ground, which releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Also, the process of cooling the gas, and in that way making it liquid, takes a lot of energy. Research shows that, as a result, liquefied gas can be even worse for the climate than coal.
MSC Cruises misleads with ‘Net Zero by 2050’ claims
This is greenwashing according to the Advertising Code Authority:
- ‘a responsible way to sail into the future’
- ‘our goal is net zero emissions by 2050’
- ‘In 2022, we launched our first ship on LNG – a major milestone on this important journey’
- ‘Hopefully in the not too distant future we will be able to use bio and synthetic LNG and further reduce our impact on the journey to net zero greenhouse gases’
The cruise industry is booming, while the solutions to make shipping more sustainable are not available. Yet MSC Cruises claims that it is well on its way to ‘Net Zero by 2050’ – by which the company means that by 2050 they will no longer contribute to global heating.
But the plans needed to achieve this are lacking. For example, MSC says it could start sailing on bio- or synthetic LNG, but those fuels are not at all scalable. There are insufficient feedstocks for biofuels, which, moreover, other sectors are also vying for. Synthetic LNG, on the other hand, is hugely energy-intensive to make. The Advertising Code Authority has therefore said that MSC Cruises should not brag about its plans that are not concrete or feasible. Nor should they call their new ships, which can run on liquefied gas, a ‘major milestone’ on this journey.
In doing so, the Advertising Code Authority has followed the verdict of the Amsterdam court in the greenwashing lawsuit by Fossielvrij NL and Reclame Fossielvrij against KLM in which the court ruled that it was misleading for KLM to pretend to be committed to the Paris Climate Agreement. KLM also claimed to have ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050, but has no plans to make this happen either. So big polluters without proper climate plans no longer get away with their deception.