Almost 11,000 signatures.
When Guillaume Jouffre launched his petition in November to denounce the practices of the Skyscanner flight comparator, he did not expect to meet with such success.
Almost three months have passed, and the co-founder of GreenGo, a platform specializing in eco-responsible accommodation, does not budge: Skyscanner, like other tourism companies, practices “greenwashing”.
As Ademe defines it, it is a process
"that may mislead the public about the real ecological quality of a product or service or about the reality of an organization's sustainable development approach"
.
For Guillaume Jouffre, it all starts when he has to go to Nantes for a business trip.
Although he has decided to take the train, he consults Skyscanner to make the comparison, especially in terms of prices.
“That's when I came across Skyscanner's display with Paris-Nantes, via Barcelona, who advertised themselves as eco-responsible.
It immediately challenged me
, ”says Guillaume Jouffre to
Figaro
.
After making calculations on the carbon footprint of these flights, he complained to the advertising ethics jury of the ARPP (Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority) before launching his petition.
Because, for him, the impact of this type of mention on sites as popular as Skyscanner (the site recorded 5 million visits in France for the month of January 2023 alone, according to Similarweb), can have harmful effects, even deadly.
And all the more so since the methods for calculating carbon emissions are at the heart of many debates.
Interview.
Read alsoCan you really "offset" the carbon footprint of your plane trip?
LE FIGARO.
- Three months later, has your petition prompted a reaction from the French platform?
Guillaume JOUFFRE.
Yes !
When the petition began to gain momentum on social networks, journalists took up the subject.
It is from this moment that Skyscanner deactivated the option in France, but not in other countries.
It is not a coincidence.
As for the complaint I filed, I am still awaiting a response from the advertising ethics jury.
Guillaume Jouffre, co-founder of GreenGo, and author of the GreenGo petition
You are at the head of a platform, Green Go, which presents itself as a “responsible alternative to Booking and Airbnb”. How do you respond to those who accuse you of advertising your company with this petition?
I filed this petition as a citizen.
It's not about recovery.
I launched my company, after having had an environmental awareness.
I told myself that we could find new modes of tourism and travel in a more respectful way.
When I see companies of the importance of Skyscanner doing such shameless greenwashing, and it falls within my sphere of expertise, I take the liberty of denouncing it.
If I wanted to advertise for GreenGo, I would have done it differently.
For me, people have to be alerted to certain information circulating.
Doesn't this problem, which you denounce, reflect the limits of carbon calculators? We can make them say anything and everything...
There are different methodologies for calculating the level of CO2 emissions.
On aviation, professionals do not include the effects of aircraft contrails
[also called "condensation trails" or "chemtrails", in other words the traces visible in the sky, left by the passage of planes, Editor's note]
in the calculation of the carbon footprint.
Taking these data into account, Ademe says that the figures should be doubled.
We therefore end up with data that varies from simple to double on the same journey.
It's not the only problem.
One of the other concerns is the communication made by certain companies.
They give a biased picture of the numbers.
And this is not without consequence.
When you see “the most eco-responsible” written everywhere, with X kilos less CO2, it is clearly misleading.
While in reality, in unit, the journey of a Paris-Nantes flight via Barcelona, it is hundreds of kilos of CO2 emitted.
Read alsoCalculating the carbon footprint of your plane journey: real tool or smokescreen?
The most classic case of greenwashing in tourism?
Carbon offsetting
Guillaume Jouffre
Is greenwashing very present in the tourism sector?
Not everyone is in good faith on the environmental aspect.
Since consumers are more and more sensitive to the issue, companies are doing a lot of their communication on it.
In a certain number of cases, it is “we communicate before acting and readjusting our impact”.
The most classic case of greenwashing in the tourism sector is carbon offsetting.
We send you to the end of the world and we tell you that we are going to plant trees, and therefore that your emissions will be absorbed.
Many tour operators, who claim to be eco-responsible or sustainable, do this.
In reality, it is very difficult to measure the effectiveness and veracity of these carbon offsets.
A Guardian
survey
shows that more than 90% of these offsets have no effect
[they could even aggravate global warming, warns the British media - Editor's note]
.
The idea is not to point out a sector, but to denounce behaviors that consist in taking people for fools.
Skyscanner's response
After Guillaume Jouffre's petition, Skyscanner had the offending mentions removed.
“We have (...) decided to carry out a complete and immediate revision of the terminology used
,” the British company said in a press release released on January 20.
Contacted on the subject, Skyscanner acknowledged that
"the French translation of the 'Greener Choices' filter could have a different meaning from the wording chosen in English"
.
The flight comparator is currently considering new semantics:
"(we) have chosen to remove the filter from our site until this (full terminology) review is complete and has been tested with users as well as review by an independent third party
.
The flight comparator claims that by sharing information
'about flights with lower emissions than the observed average, regardless of the connections available'
, it allows travelers
'to compare options and make their own choice, being informed before making their reservation"
.
One question remains: will this change in terminology be sufficient?
The new terms used should be unveiled shortly.
