The Consumer Protection Institute (Idec) filed a public civil action at the São Paulo Court of Justice against Gol Linhas Aéreas. The entity accuses the airline of practicing greenwashing on the program “Meu Voo Compensa” and requests compensation of R$5 million for collective moral damages.
According to Idec, Gol sold digital assets (carbon tokens) to passengers without recognized environmental validity, presenting the initiative as an effective way to neutralize emissions.
In a statement, Gol denied taking any action contrary to legal sustainable development practices.
The complaint states that Gol used tokens issued by the company Moss, although the international certifier Verra had already warned, since 2021, that these assets could not be considered real carbon credits.
In 2022, Verra explicitly prohibited the creation of tokens based on decommissioned credits, reinforcing that such assets had no climate benefit. Even so, the program remained active until the beginning of 2025.
Part of these tokens was linked to the “Fortaleza Ituxi Project”, which became the target of the Federal Police in Operation Greenwashing, deepening suspicions about the environmental integrity of the compensation offered to passengers.
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Advertising without transparency
For Idec, the initiative violated the right to information. Gol’s advertising pieces described compensation as something “as easy as taking a selfie”, without disclosing calculation methodology, credit traceability or independent audits.
The action argues that passengers were led to believe that they would be directly contributing to the reduction of emissions, when, in practice, they were purchasing assets without environmental validity.
The lawsuit also highlights contradictions about the nature of the charge. While the advertisements treated the payment as an environmental “donation”, Gol claimed in court that it was a costly operation, creating doubts about the destination of the amounts collected.
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The company also used the “Green Plane” as a symbol of sustainability, without presenting data to prove any real reduction in emissions.
The abrupt withdrawal of the program, following a judicial challenge by Idec in January 2025, is cited as an indication of irregularities. At the time, Gol broke the partnership with Moss and deleted all information about “Meu Voo Compensa” from the air, without public clarifications about the funds raised or the credits supposedly used.
Greenwashing
Idec states that the practice constitutes misleading and abusive advertising, and asks that the Court officially recognize that Gol practiced greenwashing. Internationally, similar cases have already led companies to review environmental campaigns, as happened with KLM in the Netherlands.
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For the institute, selling a feeling of “environmental duty accomplished” without technical support harms consumers and delays real climate mitigation solutions, by creating an illusion of carbon neutrality.
Read the full note sent by Gol:
“GOL is recognized as a company that values integrity and transparency in its relationships with its Customers and partner companies. The Company has never encouraged or carried out any action that goes against legal sustainable development practices. GOL remains at the disposal of the competent authorities to resolve any issues they deem relevant in relation to the topic.”
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