(Un)Sustainable from ship to shore

Background

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 showing 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. Meanwhile, cruise passengers are increasingly aware of sustainable tourism, making accurate advertising about environmental sustainability all the more vital.

The scale of the problem

• In 2018, international shipping was responsible for approximately 3% of global emissions. 
• Driven by the uptake of fossil LNG, methane emissions in shipping increased by 150% between 2012 and 2018. 
• Around 60% of new build cruise ship capacity will rely on fossil LNG for primary propulsion. 
• Three out of four cruise companies that control most of the cruise market (Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Group and MSC Cruises) use fossil LNG on their ships.

What’s covered in the report?

In this report, we call out the cruise industry’s marketing of fossil LNG as a climate solution and demand that cruise companies stop misleading consumers. 

Our 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 a specific initiative of reaching net zero by 2050 

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

Our recommendations

• Cruise companies should stop advertising fossil LNG as a climate solution as it risks misleading consumers as to the true sustainability of their holiday. 
• Cruise companies should remove advertising which claims that fossil LNG benefits the climate. Cruise companies should stop investing in climate-damaging fossil LNG as a purported climate solution. Cruise companies should back their net zero pledges with credible transition plans which include investments in real zero emissions solutions supported by the best available science. 

Update

On the back of the findings in this report, Opportunity Green filed a series of complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against some of the biggest international cruise companies. In December 2024, the ASA reached an informal agreement with MSC Cruises to remove environmental claims it made about fossil LNG. In September 2025, the ASA ruled that two cruise ticket sellers breached advertising rules due to misleading fossil LNG adverts for MSC Cruises.

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

Report co-author: Isabela Keuschnigg