The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned cruise companies associated with MSC Cruises from greenwashing in advertisements that misrepresented the sustainability of the cruises and painted LNG as “the world’s cleanest marine fuel.”
The companies, BarrheadTravel, Cruise Circle, Sunshine Cruise Holidays, Cruise 1st and Seascanner, were promoting MSC cruises and said they got the messaging from the cruise supplier, MSC. MSC said they did not preapprove the marketing messaging. In 2024, MSC was ordered to remove similar greenwashing ads by the Dutch authority overseeing advertising.
In one example, the authority noted that a website, www.cruise1st.co.uk, for cruise 1st seen on 15 April 2025, included a page dedicated to MSC Cruise’s offerings which made the claims “Powered by LNG, the world’s cleanest marine fuel”, “Uses new green technologies”, “If you’re keen on cruising but worried about the environmental impact, the MSC World Europa offers a green alternative. With sustainability and lessening the impact of cruises on marine life a key driver in the ship’s design, you can rest easy knowing you’re being powered by cleaner fuel and being propelled by blades that mitigate the worst impacts of underwater noise”.
In one of their rulings the authority said “We understood the cruise ship used a type of propellor that reduced the impact of noise on marine life. However, we understood cruising’s impact went beyond underwater noise, and that MSC Cruises’ ships engaged in the discharge of greywater (from sinks, showers, laundry facilities and kitchens), blackwater (sewage), ballast water, and water from exhaust gas cleaning systems that removed some GHGs from ships’ exhaust stacks, all of which could harm marine life and ecosystems. However, the ad had not provided further detail to explain the role and impact of other “green technologies” beyond the use of modern blades to minimise underwater noise.
“The ad claimed that consumers could “rest easy” knowing they were cruising on a ship powered by the cleanest fuel and a modern blade type. However, it had not provided enough information to contextualise those claims.”
Regarding the claims of LNG as “the world’s cleanest marine fuel” they noted that LNG is a fossil fuel that primarily comprises methane, and while it produces lower levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide than traditional marine fuel when burned, it is still a significant contributor to climate change. Its production and use has other potentially negative environmental impacts, such as methane slip and leakage, which is the emission of unburned methane into the atmosphere, at all stages of the fuel’s life cycle from production through to burning.
The ad also did not clarify that there are other fuel alternatives considered far cleaner than LNG–including green methanol and green hydrogen for example, as well as biomethane–but that MSC does not have ships that run on these fuels.
The authority said the ads breached codes involving misleading advertising, substantiation of claims, exaggeration, comparisons with identifiable competitors and environmental claims. They ruled the ads must not appear again in the forms complained of.
