• The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority finds cruise ticket sellers Seascanner and Cruise Circle have breached advertising rules due to misleading fossil LNG adverts for MSC Cruises.

• The new rulings highlight the systemic nature in which the tourism sector misrepresents LNG-powered cruises as environmentally friendly, despite the potentially devastating climate impact of this fuel type, and serve as a stark warning to the industry of the legal risks of LNG greenwashing.

3 September 2025: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld two complaints by climate change NGO Opportunity Green concerning environmental claims made by cruise travel agents Seascanner and Cruise Circle, about liquified natural gas (fossil LNG). The adverts related to cruises offered by MSC Cruises – one of the world’s biggest cruise companies – whose LNG advertising was already subject to scrutiny by the ASA just nine months ago.

The adverts touted environmental claims about MSC Cruises’ LNG-powered ships: MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia. In the case of Cruise Circle, a webpage selling cruises for the MSC Euribia ship used the claims “eco-friendly” and “the world’s cleanest marine fuel” to describe the fossil LNG that powers the ship.

A similar webpage selling cruises for the MSC World Europa ship on Seascanner’s website stated: “MSC World Europa also introduces cutting-edge environmental technology, including an advanced LNG-powered engine, making it one of the most eco-friendly cruise ships afloat”.

Opportunity Green’s complaint outlined how the adverts were misleading to consumers; contrary to being climate friendly, fossil LNG has devastating implications for the climate.

The ASA upheld both complaints, finding that the adverts breached several provisions of the UK non-broadcast advertising code (CAP code) and were likely to mislead. In reaching its decision on Seascanner, the ruling found:

“Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was a fossil fuel that primarily comprised methane and produced lower levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GHG emissions, such as sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide, than traditional marine fuel when burned. However, its production and use had other potentially negative environmental impacts, such as methane slip and leakage, which was the emission of unburned methane into the atmosphere, at all stages of the fuel’s life cycle, from production through to burning. We understood methane emissions were making a substantial contribution to climate change. We further understood LNG produced reduced, but still significant, CO2 emissions over its full lifecycle, which was not explained in the ad.”

The ruling on Seascanner also highlighted other environmental impacts of cruising that could harm marine life and ecosystems, such as water discharges. As the advert had not given information to put the impact of LNG or ‘environmental technology’ into context, the ASA concluded that the environmental impact of the advertised cruise ship had not been adequately explained.

Similar findings on the lifecycle impacts of fossil LNG – the total environmental costs across its entire lifespan – were made in the ruling on Cruise Circle, making it unacceptable to make an absolute claim such as “eco-friendly”. The ASA also stated that evidence did not demonstrate that LNG was the least-polluting marine fuel globally. It said that advertisers must robustly substantiate the full lifecycle emissions of a cruise to support an environmental claim.

Both advertisers removed the claims from their website, and the ASA ruled that the ads must not appear again in the form complained of. The ASA told Cruise Circle to ensure that the basis of future environmental claims, and comparative claims, is made clear. Seascanner was told to ensure that ads featuring environmental claims did not mislead; the basis of environmental claims, and comparative claims, must be made clear and all material information must be stated, where the omission of that information was likely to mislead.

These rulings set a clear precedent for the cruise industry against advertising fossil LNG as ‘clean’, ‘eco-friendly’ or similar, in a way that will mislead consumers about its true climate impact.

Kirsty Mitchell, Legal Manager at Opportunity Green says:

“These rulings shine a light on the misleading claims being made within the cruise industry about the climate impact of LNG. This issue is systemic: over the last two years, Opportunity Green has identified, called out and legally challenged the veracity of environmental claims being made by cruise companies about LNG, a highly polluting fossil fuel. At last, the ASA’s rulings provide much-needed clarity. But we know there are more similar claims out there. Advertisers (and the wider cruise industry) have no excuse to ignore these rulings, or else risk facing the legal and reputational risks of LNG greenwashing.”  

ENDS

Notes to editors

• Details of the complaints and findings of the ASA’s investigation can be found on the ASA’s website here.

• In March 2024, Opportunity Green submitted a complaint to the ASA about MSC Cruises concerning environmental claims it made about liquified natural gas. In December 2024, the ASA reached “informal resolution” with MSC Cruises (meaning that the complaint was not assessed by the ASA Council for a formal, public ruling). MSC Cruises agreed with the ASA to completely remove the adverts in the form complained of, and ensure that future ads will be clear and not make absolute environmental claims unless robust substantiation is held. Opportunity Green submitted these two complaints after identifying that environmental claims (similar to those which MSC Cruises agreed with the ASA to remove) continued to be made by travel agencies advertising tickets for MSC Cruises.

• The advertising of MSC’s cruise ships has also come under scrutiny outside of the UK. In 2024, the Dutch advertising regulator publicly ruled against MSC Cruises following a greenwashing complaint, also concerning the cruise company’s statements on fossil LNG.

• Cruise Circle is a trading name of Travel Circle Ltd. Seascanner is a trading name of www.cruise.co.uk Ltd.

• MSC Cruises is not the only cruise company that uses fossil LNG as a shipping fuel. In 2023, Opportunity Green produced an in-depth report, (Un)Sustainable from Ship to Shore highlighting the systemic nature of the cruise industry’s apparently misleading advertising.

The environmental impacts of LNG

• Fossil LNG consists primarily of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas which is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Throughout the extraction, processing and transportation of fossil LNG, methane leaks into the atmosphere. Additionally, methane slips into the atmosphere during combustion.

• A strong body of evidence suggests that fossil LNG, compared to conventional fuels such as marine gas oil, causes an increase in greenhouse gas emissions when used in cruise ships. This is because the engines used in cruise ships are particularly leaky, leading to comparatively high methane slip. While fossil LNG in shipping brings benefits with respect to air quality impacts, its use has serious and adverse effects for the climate.