Glendale woman sues Delta Air Lines over claims of carbon neutrality

A lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Delta Air Lines inaccurately billed itself as the world’s “first carbon-neutral airline” and should pay damages. The consumer class-action complaint, filed in federal court in California, alleges the airline relied on carbon offsets that were largely bogus.

Companies around the world buy carbon credits to cancel out their carbon releases with projects that promise to absorb carbon dioxide out of the air, or prevent pollution that would’ve happened. But they’ve been under the spotlight in recent months with claims their benefits are exaggerated.

Delta is a big customer, purchasing credits from projects including wind and solar projects in India and an Indonesian swamp forest, the lawsuit says.

The airline did not respond to a request for comment.

The case, filed by Glendale resident Mayanna Berrin, claims to act on behalf of anyone who flew on Delta flights while living in the state since March 2020.

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It says benefits from the offsets are likely to be temporary and would have happened even without the firm’s investment. For a carbon credit to be valid, it must provide a benefit that would not have happened otherwise.

Delta announced three years ago it would go carbon neutral, which means releasing no more climate-changing pollution into the air than it absorbs. It can also mean paying to guarantee it is absorbed elsewhere.

Berrin argues this enabled the firm to gain market share and charge higher prices. A writer for Nickelodeon, Berrin said she is about to enter her 30s, and climate anxiety is pronounced in people her age.

“I felt comfortable paying more because I was neutralizing when I needed to travel for work or to see my family,” she said, adding that she felt frustration and regret when she began having doubts about Delta’s offsets.

“They can’t just claim neutrality if that’s not factually accurate,” she said. “Lawsuits in general are very scary, and there are a lot of people who echo my frustrations who may not know their rights or the impact they can make by speaking up.”

Her attorney Jonathan Haderlein believes it’s the first such case against a major American airline, and one of just a handful of “greenwashing” cases in the U.S. based on consumer protection law.

In 2021, aviation made up more than 2% of global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. Delta is the nation’s second-largest air carrier, after American Airlines.