Non-profit slams ads for LNG-powered cruises

Non-profit Opportunity Green has written to eight cruise travel agencies over misleading environmental claims in advertisements for MSC Cruises.

IMAGE: MSC Cruises’ third LNG-capable vessel MSC World Asia. MSC Cruises

The group said the agencies’ websites have promoted MSC’s LNG-powered cruises as “eco-friendly,” calling the fossil fuel “green technology” and “the world’s cleanest marine fuel.”

Opportunity Green pointed to recent rulings by UK’s Advertising Standards Authority. The ads regulator ruled in September that some claims made by cruise travel agencies about MSC’s LNG-fuelled cruises were likely to mislead consumers and should be removed.  

The group said it remains concerned about the continued promotion of LNG as a green fuel, noting that methane emissions from fossil LNG are around 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year period and that the fuel also produces significant CO2 emissions across its full life cycle.

It has asked cruise ticket sellers to remove the ads before 11 November.

By Nachiket Tekawade

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