00:00 It's a celebration for climate activist group Fossil Free after a Dutch court ruled that
00:05 national airline KLM had misled customers with its 2019 Fly Responsibly campaign.
00:12 According to the court, 15 out of KLM's 19 environmental claims were misleading.
00:18 It had inflated the benefits of its sustainable aviation fuel and it had given the mistaken
00:22 impression that flying with KLM is sustainable.
00:26 We've been working on this case for two and a half years and then finally have this very
00:31 clear decision of the court saying that it's illegal for companies to claim they are tackling
00:36 the climate crisis while in reality they are fueling the crisis.
00:42 The court however did not impose any punishment on KLM, nor push for it to issue any statement
00:47 of rectification aside from being concrete and honest in future.
00:52 The move comes amid a push by regulators to scrutinise the corporate world's environmental
00:56 claims and could serve as a touchstone for airlines' public statements surrounding their
01:01 greenhouse gas emissions.
01:03 KLM's CEO though rejected the idea that the airline was misleading its green credentials.
01:08 We are not greenwashing, so if you look at the rest of the industry, you look at our
01:13 history so it's an inconvenience, it's a lot of energy and time against something we strongly
01:19 don't believe we do.
01:22 Seventeen airlines in Europe are still facing complaints for greenwashing brought by the
01:26 continent's main consumer protection group, BEUC.
01:30 The EU has block-wired standards in the pipeline to protect consumers against greenwashing
01:35 claims, though this has yet to be approved by member states.
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