KLM Airlines Misrepresentation of Carbon Offsets Class Action

The flag carrier airline for the Netherlands is known as Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, NV, or KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. This class action takes issue with KLM’s advertising campaign encouraging consumers to “Fly Responsibly” to reduce the effects of climate change by using carbon offsets.

Two classes have been defined for this action:

• The Texas and New York Class is all persons in Texas and New York who bought flights on KLM during the applicable statutes of limitations.
• The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, Arkansas, Ohio, Nevada, South Carolina, and Mississippi who bought flights on KLM during the applicable statutes of limitations.

In 2015, 196 countries agreed to the Paris Climate Accords, designed “to limit climate change to an increase of 1.5°C and reach net zero emissions by 2050.” The complaint alleges, “Air travel is one of the most significant contributors to climate change.”

Page 1 of the complaint shows a KLM ad that says, in part, “We recognise the urgent need to limit global warming, and thus have committed to the targets defined in the Paris Climate Agreement.”

KLM has a CO2Zero program that purportedly “offsets” and “reduces” the effects of air travel by allowing travelers to buy carbon credits. The program involves planting trees, the complaint alleges, “which function as carbon dioxide sinks, that in theory absorb a defined amount of CO2 from the atmosphere equivalent to what is expended per flier in a typical flight.”

But portraying these offsets as enough to make up for the bad effects of flying, the complaint alleges, is “false, deceptive and misleading.” The complaint alleges reasons for this:

• First, it says, there is no credible evidence that offsets actually make up for the effects of flying to the point that a flight could be called “CO2 neutral,”
• Second, the complaint alleges that the European Aviation Safety Agency has deemed the non-CO2 effects of flying to be three times worse than those of CO2. The complaint says that the carbon program has no effect on other greenhouse gases involved with flying, such as methane, nitrogen, and condensation trails.
• Third, according to the complaint, “carbon offsets can only be used to reach emission targets in a way that does not impeded reduction in emissions overall consistent with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement.”
• Fourth, the complaint contends that trees are a “short-lived and unstable form of storage” for carbon, whereas fossil fuels that are not used at all can remain stable for an indefinite period of time.
• Fifth, the complaint claims that flying, even “responsibly,” does not help limit the effects of climate change.

While KLM has a more complete plan on climate change, the complaint alleges that the airline’s commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is far below the aims of the Paris Agreement.

The complaint alleges that KLM’s advertising obstructs the targets of the Paris Agreement by not promoting a reduction in the demand for air travel.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Environmental, Environmental Damage, Providing False or Misleading Information, Related to Climate Change or Global Warming