Lufthansa Group announced that it is renaming its Green Fare, its offering enabling passengers to contribute to emissions reduction and removal initiatives, to Impact Fare, with the company citing “new regulatory requirements for environmental communication” as driver for the change.
Lufthansa introduced its Green Fare in 2023, displaying the fare alongside its other fare classes. Under the program, passenger contributions support the use of additional Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), corresponding to 20% of the flight’s estimated emissions for Europe flights, and 10% for intercontinental routes, as well as climate protection projects that avoid emissions or remove and store CO2 outside the aviation industry, such as reforestation or direct air capture projects, for the remainder of the flight’s emissions.
While not specifying the regulation behind the move, the renaming of the fare class closely follows the beginning of the application of the EU’s new Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT), introducing new rules designed to protect consumers from misleading green claims and other greenwashing practices, including banning unverified generic environmental claims such as “environmentally friendly,” or “biodegradable.”
Lufthansa was also part of a group of airlines reaching an agreement last year with the European Commission to stop using environmental claims considered by the EU’s national consumer authorities to be misleading, including claims that the CO2 emissions from flying could be offset by paying additional fees to support climate projects or the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The agreement followed a complaint by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) targeting misleading climate-related claims by several European airlines, and calling on European authorities to require airlines to stop making claims aimed at giving consumers the impression that flying is sustainable, as well as to have the airlines reimburse customers for extra “green fees” paid based on misleading environmental claims.
In its statement, Lufthansa Group said that to date, more than 5 million passengers have booked the fare, and that “the new name places even stronger emphasis on customers’ contribution to greater sustainability in aviation.”
The move forms the latest in a series of consumer-facing companies revising their sustainability claims in a tougher regulatory environment, including an announcement last week by the European Commission that it has reached agreements with Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Danone to change recycling claims advertised on their plastic bottles.
