When Which? Travel analysed the websites of five of the UK’s biggest holiday companies, it found ambiguous and misleading sustainability statements designed to convince consumers to book. We even found one company claiming that its holidays are good for the planet.

As well as examining the websites of five major tour operators (that use their own planes) ourselves, a panel of 13 volunteers was asked to use the websites to decide which they thought was the most sustainable, picking out the holiday company language that had helped them reach a decision.

We then analysed some of the claims from British Airways Holidays, EasyJet Holidays, Jet2 Holidays, Tui and Virgin Atlantic Holidays, finding numerous examples of unsubstantiated claims, ambiguous language and empty promises.

Our research found that holidays are often nowhere near as sustainable as the companies that provide them would like us to believe, especially once we challenged their claims.

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What is greenwashing?

Greenwashing is when a company’s marketing spiel exaggerates how environmentally conscious it really is, with the aim of boosting sales. 

Many of us want to reduce our carbon footprint and take holidays which are more sustainable, and companies know that potential customers increasingly look at their eco-credentials before booking. 

We surveyed 1,554 members of the general public, and nearly half of those surveyed said the eco-credentials of a company could be the clincher when choosing between two companies.  And two thirds of people told us they trust what tour operators and airlines tell them about their sustainability efforts.

The difficulty for consumers is how to separate fact from fiction – the companies taking genuine steps to improve their eco credentials from those exploiting consumer guilt to generate sales.

Companies that greenwash are likely to be committing an unfair commercial practice by misleading the consumer into making a purchasing decision they might not otherwise have made. And the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has pledged to crack down on firms that break its Green Claims Code.

The European Consumer Network (BEUC) has recently raised greenwashing concerns about 17 airlines, many of which have committed to becoming ‘carbon neutral’ by 2050. The problem with this phrase, it says, is that it doesn’t guarantee any reduction of carbon emissions. Instead airlines pay money towards environmental  projects elsewhere.

BEUC is clear that these schemes can never truly counteract the damage done by flight emissions, and that any claim to the contrary is pure greenwash. 

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Find out how to choose a sustainable holiday

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British Airways Holidays’ eco claims

Six of our 13 volunteers believed that BA Holidays was the most sustainable of the five companies based on BA’s own claims.

It declares on its sustainability pages that it is ‘proud to be an industry leader in tackling climate change’, with no explanation of how it arrived at this conclusion, and insists it has a ‘long history’ of managing and reducing carbon emissions.

Sustainability expert Dimitri Vergne, from BEUC, told us that BA’s website ‘ticks all the boxes of our action against airlines’ – it’s ‘plain greenwashing’. He was particularly concerned about BA’s reliance on carbon offsetting schemes to appear more sustainable. 

When we put this to BA it said: ‘We know that carbon offsetting is not a complete solution, but it has a role to play in the short term, while alternatives to fossil fuels are developed. We are working on a range of initiatives and acknowledge that reducing our emissions is a priority’.

Jet2 Holidays: Carbon covered?

Four of our volunteers believed Jet2 Holidays was the most sustainable company. It tells customers ‘We’ve got you carbon covered’. But again, this slogan is based on carbon-offsetting schemes.

Jet2 told us that ‘unlike other airlines’ it does not offer a voluntary option for customers because, as a company, it ‘already offsets every tonne of carbon’ its aircrafts emit.

EasyJet Holidays – giving more than they take?

One volunteer believed EasyJet was the sustainable option, perhaps because on its website it claims its holidays ‘give a lot more than they take’. This suggests that its ‘sustainable holidays’ are carbon negative (removing more CO2 than they emit), which given they involve a fossil-fuel intensive flight – simply isn’t possible. 

EasyJet told us it doesn’t believe, nor has it ever stated, that its holidays are carbon negative and that it’s working to remove all suggestions that they are from its website, including the label ‘sustainable holidays’.

Tui – green and fair holidays?

We found that Tui made bold claims about its ‘eco hotel’ collections. Granted, these properties meet the high standards set out by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), a non-profit that sets the global baseline for sustainable standards in travel.

But Tui’s description of the entire holiday as ‘green and fair’ seems a stretch. 

Our BEUC expert was also sceptical. While reducing waste and using paper straws is ‘nice’, says Vergne, the eco hotel is ‘absolutely marginal’ compared to the CO2 your flight emits to get you there.

Tui told us it has no intention of ‘distracting’ consumers, and, after we got in touch it removed any mention of ‘green and fair holidays’ from its website.

Virgin Atlantic Holidays – responsible tourism?

Although Virgin Atlantic Holidays made fewer absolute claims and didn’t sway our volunteers, there was very little to substantiate its statements either. 

Its ‘Responsible Tourism’ page tells us ‘We want to minimise our impact on the world as much as possible’ and ‘We take sustainability very seriously’.

When we challenged Virgin, it insisted it ‘has pioneered sustainability leadership for more than 15 years’ and pointed us towards its responsible supplier policy, which outlines its expectations from the hotels and destinations it works with. 

Airlines ads get banned by the ASA

This week, adverts for Air France, Lufthansa and Etihad have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for giving consumers a misleading impression of the airlines’ environmental credentials.

This is the second time this year that Lufthansa has been rapped by the ASA for its eco-claims. In March an ad campaign was banned for suggesting that Lufthansa’s green initiatives were ‘protecting’ the environment. This time, it’s the suggestion that Lufthansa customers ‘fly more sustainably’ that came under fire.

Lufthansa has agreed to remove the offending statement from future adverts but said the ‘Fly more sustainably’ claim was a reference to its ‘Green Fares’, which claim to offset 100% of flight-related CO2 emissions.   

Which? is concerned that these – more expensive – fares could make passengers believe they can pay to make their emissions go away, and that part of the fare is simply lining Lufthansa’s pockets.

Green fares are subject to dynamic pricing – going up and down with demand – and include other perks like free rebooking and airmiles. So whether you pay £100 or £800 for the ticket, it’s not clear how much is actually going towards offsetting.

Lufthansa didn’t comment on our accusations, but said it offers customers a ‘broad’ range of services for offsetting CO2 emissions and it is ‘consistently expanding this offer’ to ‘make climate-friendly flying even more common in the future’.