Op/Ed: It’s Human Nature to Have an Opinion – About LNG

Back in August 2024, in its blog Fact from Fiction: Methane Slip, the industry group SEA-LNG stated: “It’s human nature to have an opinion. And everyone is entitled to one. What’s potentially damaging is when emotive opinions with limited substance are heralded as fact.”

This week MSC Cruises had to reconsider what it was saying about LNG.

NGO Opportunity Green reports that, following a complaint it made in March 2024, the UK Advertising Standards Authority has resolved an issue regarding claims MSC Cruises was making about LNG.  

The complaint concerned the “For a greater beauty” global ad campaign which launched earlier this year 2024 across more than 30 countries and encouraged consumers to cruise more consciously with respect for the ocean and the planet by reaching destinations with a “cleaner fuel.”

The NGO says the claimed “cleaner fuel” was fossil LNG, used in part to power MSC’s newest fleet of cruise ships, the MSC World Europa and the MSC Euribia. The adverts touted the MSC World Europa as using “clean, green technology.”

It is Opportunity Green’s opinion that the ads were misleading.

MSC Cruises has now agreed to remove the adverts in the form complained of and to ensure that future ads will be clear and not make absolute environmental claims unless robustly substantiated.

Kirsty Mitchell, Legal Manager at Opportunity Green, says: “It’s high time the cruise industry is called out for its systemic misleading advertising of fossil LNG – a highly-damaging fossil fuel – as ‘green’. A strong body of evidence shows the detrimental impacts that fossil LNG has on our climate due to its high methane content, a potent greenhouse gas. Cruise companies are keen to focus on the carbon emissions savings or air pollution benefits linked to the use of fossil LNG, but this only tells part of the story. The reality is that the climate impacts of methane are over 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period – this is not a solution that is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature goal.”

It's not the first time MSC Cruises has faced pushback. Earlier this year, the Dutch advertising regulator ruled against the company following a greenwashing complaint – also concerning its statements on LNG.

Still, MSC Cruises, a member of SEA-LNG, has taken pioneering action in reducing its GHG emissions. In 2023, the MSC Euribia sailed a four-day net-zero GHG voyage using bio-LNG. As MSC Cruises stated on the release of its 2024 Sustainability Report: “Fossil LNG offers immediate GHG emission reductions compared to conventional marine fuels and a direct pathway to renewable alternatives like bio-LNG and synthetic renewable LNG.”

And in August 2024, MSC Cruises announced that it expects to reduce GHG emissions by up to 15% in 2026 with the introduction of a new itinerary planning optimization tool called OptiCruise.

While MSC Cruises has agreed to remove the adverts Opportunity Green complained about, the NGO says many other companies are continuing to advertise tickets for MSC cruises using the same claims in their marketing to consumers. It is going after them next.

SEA-LNG has evaluated the validity of several reports from NGOs claiming that LNG should not be considered as a good solution for reducing GHG. Earlier this month it countered a briefing from Transport & Environment saying it used old GHG emissions estimates that do not consider the significant progress made by industry, for example the 45% reduction in well-to-tank methane emissions achieved by members of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative since 2017.

Still, a recently published study by researchers in Korea and Norway states: “Upstream methane emissions originating from the production and transport of LNG are known to be higher than those from conventional oil fuels, making it less effective as a GHG reduction measure.”

In its Fact from Fiction blog, SEA-LNG states: “According to the 2nd Lifecycle GHG Emission Study on the use of LNG as a Marine Fuel commissioned by SEA-LNG and SGMF and conducted independently by Sphera, LNG can cut GHG emissions by up to 23% including methane emissions across its entire lifecycle, well-to-wake, when compared to fuel oil.”

As for methane slip, it says: “With continued collaborative efforts across the LNG value chain, there is increasing evidence that methane slip will be eliminated for all engine technologies within this decade.”

SEA-LNG says there is much false and inaccurate information proliferating about LNG as a marine fuel.