WEBVTT

00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:05.078
Activists celebrated a Dutch court ruling Wednesday that found Airline

00:00:05.089 --> 00:00:09.210
Klm misled customers with an ad campaign aimed at improving

00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:12.519
the company's environmental image. In a case of so

00:00:12.528 --> 00:00:17.870
called greenwashing. The decision is expected to serve as

00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.809
a benchmark for airlines on what they can say publicly

00:00:20.818 --> 00:00:25.429
about their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Regulators

00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:29.920
have been scrutinizing environmental claims more closely. The court

00:00:29.929 --> 00:00:33.478
said some of Klm's claims about sustainability were too vague

00:00:33.689 --> 00:00:36.759
or painted what the court described as a too rosy

00:00:36.770 --> 00:00:41.000
picture but its measures to scale back emissions. Environmental

00:00:41.009 --> 00:00:43.978
groups said it was a landmark decision. We were

00:00:43.990 --> 00:00:46.598
so happy. This is such an important victory in

00:00:46.609 --> 00:00:50.118
a battle against greenwashing hike. Arts is a campaign

00:00:50.130 --> 00:00:53.789
leader with fossil free the Dutch group which led case

00:00:53.848 --> 00:00:57.810
activists with the group had argued that Klm's fly responsibly

00:00:57.819 --> 00:01:02.329
campaign was misleading given that all flights generate significant amounts

00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:06.629
of emissions. Finally have this very clear decision of

00:01:06.638 --> 00:01:08.790
the courts saying that it is illegal for companies to

00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:14.109
claim they are tackling the climate crisis. While in

00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:17.469
reality, they are fueling the crisis, there was

00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:19.609
no punishment in the case, Klm said it was

00:01:19.620 --> 00:01:23.138
satisfied with the decision, which gave it quote Clarity

00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:26.480
, Air France, Klm, Ceo Benjamin Smith said

00:01:26.489 --> 00:01:30.760
the company is taking steps to scale back emissions by

00:01:30.769 --> 00:01:34.709
purchasing more efficient planes and using more biofuel. We

00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.430
are not greenwashing. So, you know, if

00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:38.739
we look at the rest of the industry, you

00:01:38.750 --> 00:01:40.799
look at our history. So it is, it's

00:01:40.808 --> 00:01:42.269
an inconvenience. It's a, it's a lot of

00:01:42.278 --> 00:01:46.370
energy and time again, something we strongly don't believe

00:01:46.379 --> 00:01:49.918
we do. The claims are common across the industry

00:01:49.930 --> 00:01:53.709
. And lawyer Johnny White advised fossil free. He

00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:56.269
pointed out that Europe's main consumer group has brought a

00:01:56.278 --> 00:01:59.859
complaint to the European Commission for similar claims against more

00:01:59.870 --> 00:02:02.879
than a dozen airlines. So we expect that this

00:02:02.888 --> 00:02:07.250
ruling will have significant implications for the kind of green

00:02:07.258 --> 00:02:10.679
claims that aviation as a highly polluting industry is allowed

00:02:10.689 --> 00:02:14.618
to make in Europe and also beyond. As for

00:02:15.020 --> 00:02:15.610
KLM, the court said in the future, it

00:02:15.618 --> 00:02:21.360
must be honest and concrete about environmental claims.