Seven of the largest European airlines are failing to take credible action on their climate ambitions, environmental organization Greenpeace said in a press release on Wednesday.
"Europe's biggest airlines are putting up a smokescreen of false solutions to distract from their staggering emissions, and keep transport in the EU hooked on oil," said Herwig Schuster, a spokesperson for the organization.
A report commissioned by Greenpeace looked at seven airlines including Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, the International Airlines Group IAG (which includes British Airways), Easyjet, and Ryanair.
Greenpeace accused the airlines of hiding their emissions behind false promises and "greenwashing," while not doing enough to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
In order to keep global warming from lifting the world's temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius, Greenpeace has said that European airlines will have to reduce their air traffic by at least 2% annually between now and 2040.
However, "none of the companies analysed has annual reduction goals for its greenhouse gas emissions, committed to reduce flights, or pledged to fully decarbonise by 2040," the press release stated.
A spokesperson for Lufthansa said that the airline will look carefully at the Greenpeace study, and that the airline has plans to halve net CO2 emissions by 2030 from their 2019 levels.
Easyjet also responded, saying that it is aware of its responsibility and is working on becoming more climate friendly.
Ryanair said that the data and conclusions of the report are outdated, and that it has an ambitious climate strategy.
