Franchise burger advertisement. Unsplash·Oxk photo

Starting on the 1st (local time), advertising for fossil fuels and meat products has been banned within the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. This follows the passage of a related ordinance by the city council in January. Amsterdam has become the world's first capital to ban fossil-fuel and meat advertising.

According to the City of Amsterdam, ads for airlines·cruise travel, internal-combustion vehicles that use gasoline and diesel fuel, and meat-based products such as hamburgers will be removed from all public spaces and transit advertising throughout the city. The city has set a standard under which advertising for these products is prohibited in principle and allowed only as exceptions.

The measure was introduced to reduce conflicts between carbon-reduction policies and the content of outdoor advertising and to ensure policy consistency. By restricting fossil-fuel products and meat advertising that hinder the city goal of carbon neutrality, it aims to prevent public spaces from being used in ways that worsen the climate crisis.

Civic groups such as ‘World Without Fossil Ads’ (World Without Fossil Ads) have argued that “advertising by the fossil-fuel industry leads to increased use (of the products) and the distortion of climate information” and that “banning such advertising is an effective, low-cost, and immediately implementable climate response tool.”

In 2024, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres identified coal·oil·gas companies as “the main culprits of climate chaos” and called on countries to ban advertising by fossil-fuel firms.

The use of fossil fuels is the largest driver of global greenhouse gas emissions. The meat industry is also a major source, accounting for about 60% of food-sector greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock farming is estimated to produce roughly 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions.