A Delta Air Lines plane departs Atlanta International Airport on Nov. 22, 2022, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. A lawsuit filed May 30, 2023, claims Delta Air Lines inaccurately billed itself as the world's first carbon-neutral airline and should pay damages. The California lawsuit alleges that the airline relied on carbon offsets that were largely bogus. A consumer class action lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Delta Air Lines inaccurately billed itself as the world's first carbon-neutral airline and should pay damages. The case has been filed in federal court in California, where the airline relied on carbon offsets that were largely bogus.
Polluting companies globally take advantage of carbon credits to cancel out their emissions with projects aiming to absorb carbon dioxide out of the air or prevent pollution. But they have been under the spotlight lately, with claims that their benefits are exaggerated. Delta is a big customer, buying credits from projects such as wind and solar projects in India and an Indonesian swamp forest, the lawsuit says.
Mayanna Berrin, an resident of Glendale, California, filed the suit seeking to act on behalf of anyone who flew Delta while living in the state since March 2020. The benefits of the offsets are likely to be temporary, and would have happened even without the firm's investment. To be effective, a carbon credit must provide a benefit that would not have happened otherwise.
Berrin contends that this allowed the firm to gain market share and charge higher prices. She argues through her attorneys, Haderlein and Kouyoumdjian LLP, that she would have bought the tickets, or would have paid less, had she known the nature of the offsets.
The passenger bought the flights at a market-high price due to her belief that by flying Delta she engaged in more ecologically conscious air travel. The case number is 2 - 23 - cv - 04150.
Three years ago Delta announced it would go carbon neutral, which means releasing no more climate-changing pollution than it absorbs or pays to guarantee it is absorbed elsewhere.
In 2021, aircraft made up more than 2% of global CO 2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
Delta had 672 flights in the air globally yesterday, according to flightRadar 24, which tracks GPS data pinged to satellites and receivers.
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