ACCC to consider investigating Etihad amid greenwashing claims

Clouds in the Shape of Footprints form the Condensation Trails of an Jet Airliner

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will consider a complaint against Etihad Airways over greenwashing claims.

The complaint has come from advocacy group Flight Free Australia (FFA), which has legal representation from the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO).

The FFA said that two Etihad ads that appeared on digital advertising hoardings during an A-League football match between Melbourne City and Adelaide United at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on 15 February last year were false or misleading.

In the ads, Etihad said it would be “net zero emissions by 2050” and in another ad that “Flying shouldn’t cost the Earth.”

The EDO’s senior solicitor Zoe Bush said, “When a company makes false claims about its climate credentials it gains a competitive advantage by misleading people and exploiting their desire to do the right thing. We’ve pored over Etihad’s public documents and found insufficient evidence that it intends, or reasonably expects, to reach net zero by 2050.”

“When we see Etihad sponsoring sports, and advertising their so-called sustainability, that flying ‘need not cost the earth’ or that they will achieve ‘net zero by 2050’, we see potential greenwashing,” said Flight Free pledger Alex Mungall.

“Our complaint alleges Etihad has no credible path to net zero in place and is instead talking up emissions reduction initiatives that are not technologically, practically or economically feasible.”

Flight Free Australia said that Etihad’s own sustainability report “forecasts an increase in carbon dioxide emissions to 2026 due to increased services, while its emissions reduction initiatives are un-modelled and rely on speculative technology and offsetting.”

The group also said Etihad “significantly understates” its emissions.

The ACCC said it would consider the complaint but not comment further on an investigation. A spokesperson added that it was examining “a number of concerns about greenwashing” in a range of industries.

In a statement, Etihad said it “runs a comprehensive research, development, and innovation programme to address aviation decarbonisation, and is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, in line with IATA’s declared industry-wide net zero ambition for 2050.”

“Our ambition is to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment, and we continue to explore and test all possible ways to decarbonise – from research into sustainable aviation fuels and contrail avoidance to offsets and reforestation through the Etihad Mangroves,” it added.

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Alex Mungall etihad greenwashing Zoe Bush