Etihad must stop running two ads in the UK due to greenwash rule

Etihad Airways can no longer run two recent advertisements in the UK after a regulator found their environmental claims were “exaggerated.” The ads, promoted on Facebook in October last year, suggest the Abu Dhabi-based airline is “taking a louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation,” but failed to back up the claim, the Advertising Standards Authority found in a ruling published on Wednesday. “The claim exaggerated the impact that flying with Etihad would have on the environment,” the ASA said. “We understood that there were currently no initiatives or commercially viable technologies in operation within the aviation industry which would adequately substantiate an absolute green claim such as ‘sustainable aviation’ as we considered consumers would interpret it in this context.” The ruling, which bars the airline from showing the advertisements in their current form again in the UK, is part of a series of investigations by the regulator into marketing campaigns promoting a company's climate action. The ASA and other European regulators are cracking down on “greenwashing” to protect consumers from unreliable claims of environmental sustainability. Etihad Airways said it’s disappointed by ASA’s decision. “Sustainability is a key priority for Etihad,” the company said in an e-mailed statement, highlighting its investments in fuel-efficient aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels research, as well as carbon offsetting and reforestation through mangroves.<br/>