Irish budget airline Ryanair has pledged to communicate more clearly about the carbon offset scheme it offers travellers who book online, the Dutch consumer authority ACM said on Friday.

The changes were made after the ACM warned the airline it may be making misleading sustainability claims about its CO2 compensation scheme and briefed other European consumer organisations.

Ryanair had been using claims such as ‘Fly greener to […]’, a statement which could give the impression that consumers were actually flying ‘greener’ with Ryanair, the ACM said.

‘Businesses must be honest and clear about the sustainability claims they make. Even with CO2 compensation schemes, flying remains a highly polluting way of traveling,’ spokesman Edwin van Houten said.

‘Airlines may offer CO2 compensation schemes, but they cannot give the impression that CO2 compensation will make flying sustainable.’