In a landmark ruling, the Hamburg Regional Court declared that TUI Cruises misled consumers with its advertising claim of achieving decarbonization by 2050.
The decision, which is not yet legally binding, follows a lawsuit filed by the German Environmental Aid (DUH) concerning the travel and cruise group’s future-oriented environmental promises.
The case, marked by its focus on long-term environmental claims, scrutinizes the realistic basis of such advertising. The court criticized TUI Cruises for its lack of current measures to support its future goals, especially the use of liquified natural gas (LNG), including so-called organic LNG, utilizing waste materials as fuel, which the company advertised.
The ruling challenges the practices of making distant future environmental commitments without immediate action.
“The goals of a company can also have an impact on the current consumer decision,” the court stated, emphasizing consumers are increasingly making decisions based on a company’s environmental actions.
Jürgen Resch, federal managing director of DUH, highlighted the case’s importance, stating, “Today’s verdict against TUI Cruises is trendsetting for the review of many advertising statements with which companies advertise that they want to be particularly climate-friendly in a few years, although they are far from being now.”
He continued, “We call on trade and industry to advertise with such statements only if a comprehensible exit path from the cause of greenhouse gas emissions can be proven.”
TUI Cruises’ Ambitious Carbon Neutral Goals
TUI Cruises, part of the TUI Group, has laid out an extensive plan aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The roadmap is part of the broader TUI Sustainability Agenda, which outlines significant emission reduction targets across all the group’s operations, including air travel, cruises, and hotel services.
The cruise division is particularly focused on reducing its carbon footprint by nearly 28 percent by 2030.
TUI’s CEO Sebastian Ebel said, “The emission reduction targets set out in our Agenda were evaluated and verified independently by the Science Based Targets initiative. Our cruise companies are the first in the world to adopt a reduction target that has been scientifically validated.”
He continued, “By 2050 at the latest, TUI will be a net zero emissions company. We bear this target in mind every single day and every day we change a little more to draw us closer to that goal.”
The agenda reveals the cruise sector will reduce its emissions by utilizing energy efficiency in ship operations, fuel-saving route optimization, shore power in ports, and the use of alternative fuels. These align with the Paris Agreement goals, adopted by nations in 2015 to keep global temperature rise below pre-industrial levels.
Read Also: The Cruise Industry’s Pursuit of Carbon Neutrality by 2050
The cruise line, which includes Mein Schiff and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, reported a reduction in carbon of 14 percent between 2015 and 2019, and indicated three new Mein Schiff cruise ships being added by 2026 will operate with LNG or bio-LNG, using biogenic residual and waste materials.
Mein Schiff 7, the first new ship that entered service in June 2024, “runs on lower-emission marine diesel, has a shore-side power connection, and is equipped with catalytic converters that reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by around 75 percent,” according to TUI Group.
Mein Schiff Relax and Mein Schiff 9, under construction at Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, are slated to launch in 2025 and 2026. Six of the 11 ships operated by TUI feature shore power connections.
