By Neve Brissenden in Sydney

The consumer watchdog is being urged to investigate whether Qantas passengers have been misled into flying “carbon neutral”, as a climate group accuses the airline of greenwashing.

The Environmental Defenders Office filed the complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for not-for-profit advocacy group Climate Integrity on Wednesday.

It says the airline is misleading customers by charging them extra to fly carbon-neutral and promoting itself as sustainable while having no credible plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Climate Integrity director Claire Snyder said charging customers to offset their carbon emissions distorted customers’ perceptions about the sustainability of flying.

“Qantas is a trusted household name in Australia and it should not mislead customers and shareholders into thinking Qantas products and services are more sustainable than they really are,” she said.

Qantas’s carbon-offset program involves purchasing offsets that “remove, reduce or avoid emissions” by donating to projects outside the aviation sector, according to its website.

The projects include bushfire relief, rainforest conservation and food drives.

Customers who chose the “fly carbon neutral” option might wrongly think the climate impacts of their trips had been compensated for through the purchasing of temporary offsets, Ms Synder said.

“But this is not supported by science, and therefore distorts customers’ perception of the sustainability of flying,” she said.

The complaint urges the watchdog to follow a landmark European greenwashing decision against KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in March, which found offsetting and other airline sustainability claims to be misleading.

The European watchdog has since launched action against 20 airlines.

Qantas’s primary method of reducing emissions is the use of sustainable aviation fuel, which it says reduces emissions by up to 80 per cent.

“We have always acknowledged that aviation is a particularly hard-to-abate sector but we have a responsibility to do what we can with what’s available now,” a spokeswoman said.

“We have offered to work closely with Climate Integrity on this journey and have also reached out to the ACCC.”

In November, the consumer watchdog announced it would be cracking down on greenwashing and months later launched legal action against Clorox Australia.

It alleged the company had breached consumer law over “ocean plastic” claims on Glad kitchen tidy and garbage bags, which have since been withdrawn from sale.