Environmental NGO Opportunity Green has written to eight UK-based cruise travel agencies urging them to withdraw promotional claims about MSC’s LNG-powered ships that it says are misleading under the UK’s advertising rules.
In the open letter dated 28 October 2025, the NGO cites Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rulings from 3 September against ads for MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia, which had described LNG as “eco-friendly”, “new green technology”, “the world’s cleanest marine fuel”, and “cutting-edge environmental technology”.
The ASA found that such claims risked misleading consumers because LNG is a fossil fuel with “potentially negative environmental impacts, such as methane slip and leakage… at all stages of the fuel’s life cycle,” and that it produces “reduced, but still significant, CO₂ emissions over its full life cycle”.
Opportunity Green argues that methane is more than 80 times more potent than CO₂ over 20 years and says studies show that using fossil LNG can increase total greenhouse-gas emissions compared with marine gas oil in the cruise sector. It also warns that continuing to use these claims could expose agencies to legal action from misled customers.
The NGO asks the agencies to confirm the removal of the claims “no later than 14 days following the date of this letter (i.e. by 11 November 2025)”.
