ENVIRONMENT – The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an advertising campaign by Europe’s larg- est budget carrier Ryanair for making false and misleading claims about its carbon emissions, which drew accusations of greenwashing. Ryanair had claimed to be “Europe’s Lowest Fares, Lowest Emissions airline” in a TV, press and radio cam- paign that ran for five months last year. The airline claimed to have “the lowest carbon emissions of any major airline – 66g CO2 for every passenger kilometer flown. This is because we have the youngest fleet of aircraft (average age six years, the highest load factors [with] 97% of seats filled) and newest, most fuel-efficient engines.” ASA found the claims to be misleading because Ryanair did not mention its much higher seat density or properly substanti- ate its claims. ASA criticized documents later submitted by Ryanair for only covering emissions in 2011 and not including other major airlines in its comparisons.
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