MSC Cruises has agreed to remove advertising statements which promoted liquefied natural gas as “cleaner fuel” after an environmental NGO submitted a complaint.
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) is reported to have informally resolved a complaint made by NGO Opportunity Green against MSC Cruises over environmental claims the cruise line made about liquefied natural gas (LNG).
After a nine-month investigation by the ASA, MSC Cruises has agreed to withdraw the complained-of adverts and has committed to being clear with consumers in the future over its environmental claims.
Opportunity Green said in a release that it complained that MSC’s brand campaign that launched at the beginning of 2024 “For a greater beauty” had encouraged passengers to cruise in a more conscious way and reach destinations “with a cleaner fuel”.
However, the NGO took issue with this due to MSC Cruises using LNG to in part power the line’s newest fleet of ships, the MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia.
LNG is a natural gas that has been reduced to a liquid state through a process of cooling. The UK’s National Grid says that LNG has been part of the country’s energy mix for many years, and claims that it is the cleanest of the fossil fuels as it produces 40 per cent less carbon dioxide than coal and 30 per cent less than oil.
However, Opportunity Green says LNG is “just another dirty fuel” that can be more harmful to the environment than other fuels and is often greenwashed in the shipping sector as climate beneficial.
Kirsty Mitchell, the legal manager at Opportunity Green states that a “strong body of evidence shows the detrimental impacts that fossil LNG has on our climate due to its high methane content, a potent greenhouse gas.”
“The reality is that the climate impacts of methane are over 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period – this is not a solution that is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature goal.”
“It’s high time the cruise industry is called out for its systemic misleading advertising of fossil LNG – a highly-damaging fossil fuel – as ‘green’.
“Cruise companies are keen to focus on the carbon emissions savings or air pollution benefits linked to the use of fossil LNG, but this only tells part of the story.”
The MSC World Europa, which…
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