The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority on Wednesday banned a radio ad promoting the use of sustainable aviation fuel by airline company Virgin Atlantic over greenwashing concerns.
The ad, which was heard on Nov. 24, 2023, centered around the first transatlantic flight powered by 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel. The U.K. watchdog said it was “misleading” because it didn’t inform listeners about the fuel’s true environmental impact.
That’s a blow to the airline and to the promotion of sustainable aviation fuels — also known as SAF — which are seen as a possible solution to decarbonize the industry.
To justify its decision, the U.K. watchdog argued that listeners “were unlikely to be aware of the extent to which fuels described as sustainable aviation fuel still had negative environmental impacts, and in what ways.”
