Publications

(Un)Sustainable from ship to shore

(Un)Sustainable from Ship to Shore reveals the extent to which the cruise industry is trying to gaslight the public into believing that fossil LNG is a climate solution when it is not. The report highlights the systemic nature of the cruise industry’s apparently misleading advertising, including claims being made by some of the biggest international cruise companies such as Carnival, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises, and Costa Cruises.

Fossil LNG is being widely promoted as a ‘climate-friendly’ alternative shipping fuel, and cruise companies are ploughing billions into new fossil LNG-ready ships. However, the evidence is increasingly suggesting that fossil LNG has devastating implications for the climate. Consisting mainly of methane, fossil LNG is an extremely potent greenhouse gas which has climate impacts over 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

The report identifies three key communication strategies being used by several companies that risk breaching advertising rules in the UK. These are:

  1. Advertising the use of fossil LNG as reducing emissions

  2. Advertising fossil LNG as environmentally friendly

  3. Advertising the use of fossil LNG as specific initiative of reaching net zero by 2050

As a result of the findings in the report, Opportunity Green has also filed a series of complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against some of the biggest international cruise companies to try to put an end to this apparent LNG greenwashing, which is potentially misleading consumers.

For more information, download the report below and read our press release here.