A Greenwashing Lawsuit Against Delta Aims to Set a Precedent
A class-action lawsuit targets the airline’s claim to carbon-neutrality, which has in the past rested in part on its use of carbon offsets.
In 2020, Delta said it would become “the world’s first carbon-neutral airline on a global basis.”
Photographer: Nathan Howard/BloombergAs tranquil instrumental music plays over gauzy images of nature, a woman’s voice-over begins. “Isn’t it a paradox,” she wonders aloud, “that the love for this world that gets us out in it, sometimes leaves behind the things that can harm it? Flight by flight, we broaden our views. We gain new perspectives. And now, flight by flight, we can make a difference.”
The commercial, released by Delta Air Lines Inc. in 2021, goes on to tout the company’s commitment to “becoming the world's first carbon-neutral airline on a global basis.” It’s a pledge Delta debuted in February 2020, alongside a plan to spend $1 billion over the next decade mitigating its greenhouse-gas emissions. Now that pledge is the focal point of a class-action lawsuit arguing that Delta’s carbon-neutrality claims amount to little more than greenwashing.