The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2025
Eurowings told flyers they could offset 100% of a flight's carbon — the ASA banned the ad
A Google ad promised Eurowings passengers could offset up to 100% of a flight's CO2. The ASA ruled the airline had no evidence offsets cancel a flight's impact.
Eurowings · 2026-07
What happened
On 20 December 2025 Eurowings ran a paid Google search ad in the UK that presented flying with the airline as a climate-conscious choice: 'Travel […] more eco-friendly thanks to […] CO2-compensation. Travel climate-consciously by offsetting up to 100% of your carbon emissions per flight.'
The Advertising Standards Authority challenged whether the ad gave a misleading impression of the environmental impact of travelling with the airline. Eurowings offered carbon-offset purchases, but the ASA found no evidence that consumers could fully offset the emissions from specific flights and thereby reduce their environmental impact — the payments did not cancel out what the flight itself emitted.
On 15 July 2026 the ASA upheld the complaint. The ad breached CAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.7 on misleading advertising and substantiation, and 11.1 and 11.3 on environmental claims. The ruling drew the line for the airline industry at '100%' claims attached to a specific flight: those need robust, specific substantiation, not a general offset programme.
Why it happened
- 'Offsetting up to 100% of your carbon emissions per flight' implies the flight's entire impact is cancelled by paying — a claim no scheme the airline offered could substantiate for a specific journey.
- Calling a flight 'more eco-friendly' is an absolute environmental claim about an inherently high-emission activity, demanding a high level of proof under CAP Code rule 11.
- Eurowings marketed the act of paying for offsets as reducing the flight's impact, when the payments did not change what the flight emitted.
The lesson
Paying for offsets does not let an airline advertise a specific flight as fully offset: the ASA banned Eurowings' 100% claim for lack of proof that the offsets cancel the flight's actual emissions.
Aftermath
The ASA ruled the ad must not appear again in the form investigated. Eurowings was told that future ads must not state or imply passengers could fully offset the carbon emissions of a specific flight unless robust substantiation exists. The ruling is part of a wider ASA crackdown on environmental claims in travel and retail, which has also banned fashion brands' 'recycled' and 'sustainable' ads.
Sources
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