DUH v. TUI Cruises GmbH (‘2050 Net Zero’ advertising)

On August 9, 2024, the Regional Court of Hamburg (Landgericht Hamburg) upheld an action brought by the German Environmental Action (Deutsche Umwelthilfe, DUH) against TUI Cruises GmbH concerning the future-oriented environmental advertising claim “2050 Decarbonized Cruise Operation (Net-zero)”. The court prohibited TUI Cruises from using the claim in the manner challenged. The judgment was not yet final.

The court held that the statement was ambiguous and therefore misleading. Consumers could understand “decarbonized” and “net-zero” either as meaning that CO₂ emissions from cruise operations would be completely avoided by 2050, or as meaning that remaining emissions would be balanced through compensation measures. Because these terms do not have a sufficiently uniform meaning for the average consumer, the claim created a heightened need for clarification.

The court found that TUI Cruises had not adequately addressed this need for clarification through the explanations accompanying the claim. This was particularly significant because TUI relied, among other things, on measures such as the future use of LNG for dual-fuel ships, as well as assumptions concerning future technologies and fuels.