Emissions labels confuse consumers and make little impact on flight choices, research finds

Emissions labels displayed on airline search engines result in many consumers misunderstanding the impact of flying on the climate, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

The study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used a controlled experiment in which a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults completed realistic online holiday-booking tasks.

Participants were randomly assigned to booking websites that displayed either no emissions information, a label stating the flight’s estimated carbon emissions, or an additional label comparing emissions to other flights on the same route.

Among participants who saw no climate information, 22 per cent booked the flight with the lowest emissions. The figure was the same for participants who saw labels stating the estimated carbon emissions. It increased slightly to 27 per cent among those shown relative emissions labels.

“While the emissions labels did help a good number of participants to identify lower-emission flights, many others were instead confused by them,” the ESRI said.

“The labels showing relative emissions for a given route led people to think that a long-haul flight with low relative emissions for its route was more climate-friendly than a short-haul flight with high relative emissions for its route. In reality, long-haul flights emit much more greenhouse gas, because of how much further they travel.”

The study highlighted further misunderstandings of what the labels mean. Fewer than one in six participants correctly understood the benchmark used in relative emissions labels.

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Most expected them to compare flights with the same number of stops, when in fact current labels include indirect flights to the same destination in the comparison, the research said.

Participants also showed poor understanding of the factors used to calculate flight emissions.

“Flying is one of the most emissions-intensive activities that people undertake, and a relatively small number of frequent flyers account for a disproportionate share of aviation emissions,” Shane Timmons, co-author of the study, said.

“Our findings show that emissions labels help some consumers to distinguish between flights on the same route, but the impact is small and many consumers do not understand what these labels mean.”

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Desmond O’Mahony, scientific officer at the EPA, said the research “demonstrates that current flight emission labelling practices do not meaningfully support consumers in choosing lower emission flights and in some cases may increase misperceptions”.

“Further research is needed to develop emissions labelling that informs rather than confuses consumers about the climate impacts of flying,” he added.