Berlin (dts) – Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) is taking legal action against Lufthansa and has filed an injunction with the Cologne Regional Court. This emerges from a message from the environmental protection organization, which the “Editorial Network Germany” (Saturday editions) reports on.
The DUH justifies this with a “misleading C02 neutrality promise” from the Kranich airline. This is “brazen greenwashing,” according to the accusation.
The airline advertises its air travel by allowing customers to “offset the CO2 emissions generated during flights by contributing to compensation projects,” the letter says. “In this way, Lufthansa is signaling that flights would not have any harmful effects on the climate through CO2 compensation.” However, in the DUH’s opinion, the specified forest protection and cooking stove projects are not sufficient for the promised compensation.
“Air travel remains the most climate-damaging form of travel – no matter what Lufthansa promises,” said Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch. “However, the airline gives the impression in its advertising that the entire emissions of a flight can be offset with little money,” he criticized. “This is blatant consumer deception and misleading greenwashing.”
The DUH is also bothered by Lufthansa's compensation model. This only takes into account a fraction of the harmful climate effects of flying. “In its calculations, the airline ignores greenhouse gases such as ozone, the effects of contrails and other harmful aspects of a flight,” is the accusation. If these aspects are taken into account, the climate impacts of a flight are up to four times greater than those determined by the compensation calculator. “We will not accept this misleading greenwashing and will take Lufthansa to court,” Resch continued.
