European airlines stress their commitment to sustainability

23-06-23

The concept of the smart city or intelligent city has been on everyone's lips these days, due to the recently concluded Smart City Ecuador International Congress held in the South American country. But what does the smart city concept consist of and which cities worldwide have the best parameters in this area?  

Smart cities, also known as digital cities or connected cities, are urban environments that use information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants, optimise resource management and promote sustainable development.

The smart city concept is based on the integration of various urban infrastructures and services, such as transport, energy, housing, security, health and governance, through the implementation of advanced technologies. These technologies include sensors, communication networks, data analysis, geographic information systems and mobile applications, among others.

He adds that the industry has a very ambitious roadmap that aims to achieve hydrogen propulsion in the medium term and electric aircraft in the longer term. Earlier, the solution would be the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

However, currently available SAF is "scarce", so the industry has called for incentives to encourage its production at scale in order to be successfully implemented. In this regard, it stresses that many airlines have made a commitment to consume UAS in excess of the use quotas set by the European Union in the Refuel Regulation.

Unfair practices denounced

BEUC and 22 of its member associations from 18 countries, including three in Spain, have filed a complaint with the European Commission and the network of consumer protection authorities (CPC) against 17 airlines for misleading claims about the climate or 'greenwashing'.

The joint statement, shared by the Consumers and Users Federation CECU, highlights that airlines make climate-related marketing claims asking consumers to offset or neutralise CO2 emissions from their flights.

"We believe these practices are misleading and deceptive to consumers under EU rules on unfair commercial practices (Directive 2005/29/EC), and amount to greenwashing," explained BEUC.

The 17 airlines complained about are Air Baltic, Air Dolomiti, Air France, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Finnair, KLM, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Ryanair, SAS, SWISS, TAP, Volotea, Vueling and Wizz Air.

In Spain, the three consumer associations Asufin, CECU and OCU have participated in this joint action together with other European members of BEUC.

Airlines urged to "stop misleading" airlines

The associations urge the authorities to send a "loud and clear" signal to airlines and the entire aviation industry to "stop misleading consumers with climate-related commercial claims".

"Airlines must be transparent that flying is not sustainable and will not be sustainable in the foreseeable future," the statement adds.

In cases where airlines have proposed to consumers to pay additional green fees based on such misleading claims, the CPC authorities should ask airlines to refund the amount to their customers, BEUC has demanded.

As examples of "misleading statements", the associations of organisations have cited claims that "the payment of additional credits can offset or neutralise the CO2 emissions of a flight" as "objectively misleading", because "the climate benefits of offsetting activities are highly uncertain".

Furthermore, BEUC denounced that airlines are misleading consumers by "charging them more" to contribute to the development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs).

"These fuels are not ready for the market and the recently adopted EU legislation sets very low targets for the proportion they should represent in the fuel mix of aircraft," it explained.

On the other hand, the consumer organisations criticised that "implying that air transport can be sustainable", responsible and environmentally friendly is misleading", saying that "none of the strategies deployed by the aviation sector can currently avoid greenhouse gas emissions".