'The new tobacco': The cities banning fossil fuel adverts

The advertising sector is increasingly coming under the spotlight for its role in promoting and normalising polluting activities and for misrepresenting their environmental and health impacts, according to a report by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. (Read more about the adverts banned for misleading climate claims). 

In a scathing speech in New York in 2024, UN Secretary General António Guterres said climate misinformation by the fossil fuel industry in particular had been "aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies". 

Guterres urged every country in the world to ban the fossil fuel industry from advertising altogether, a call later echoed by Maria Neira, director for public health and climate at the World Health Organization, who described fossil fuels as "the new tobacco".

"We know that advertising is a really major driver of unsustainable consumption," says Cassie Sutherland, managing director of climate solutions and networks at C40 Cities, a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world's leading cities. "Advertisers wouldn't be spending billions upon billions of dollars every year if it wasn't affecting people's behaviour."

Indeed, a 2023 scientific advice paper for Dutch policymakers concluded that fossil advertising "normalises and promotes unsustainable behaviour". It also "discourages sustainable behaviour, actively undermining climate policy", it added.

In recent years, several campaigns have emerged calling on public authorities to ban such advertising, including Adfree Cities, World Without Fossil Fuel Ads and Reclame Fossielvrij ("Fossilfree advertising" in Dutch). 

Some have already had success, and the Netherlands in particular has become a hotspot for bans. In 2020, in response to a letter from campaigners and political groups, Amsterdam passed a world-first motion seeking to end the "excesses" of unsustainable advertising, such as "flying vacations at rock-bottom prices". And the city's newly passed ban, which comes into effect on 1 May 2026, goes even further than The Hague by restricting advertising for meat as well as fossil fuel products.

More than a dozen municipalities across the country have now tried to put in place some form of restriction either through local laws or public contracts.

The road has not always been easy. The Netherlands' travel trade organisation ANVR and three travel operators went to court in 2024, claiming The Hague's law breached their right to freedom of speech and would not actually reduce fossil fuel use. But a judge ruled that the ban could help combat climate change and improve people's health, and said the city had properly substantiated its reasons for putting it in place. It has been in force since April 2025. The ANVR did not respond to a request for comment. The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions was also asked for comment but did not respond.

Several UK cities have also introduced bans. In 2024, the city of Edinburgh banned advertising for fossil fuel companies, airlines, airports, fossil fuel-powered cars, SUVs and cruise ships on council-owned advertising spaces, including bus stops and digital media. Sheffield introduced a similar policy the same year, also including any content "which might reasonably be deemed to promote more flying". In February 2026, Portsmouth also introduced a ban. 

Climate campaigners have now turned their attention to the UK capital, where transport operator Transport for London (TfL) has one of the largest advertising estates in the world. In November, London mayor Sadiq Khan agreed to review the body's advertising policy to see if it could be greener. 

In Australia, 19 jurisdictions have already voted for or implemented some level of restriction on fossil fuel advertising, including Sydney, its largest city. And the regional council in Greater Wellington, New Zealand, agreed in 2023 to stop fossil fuel adverts on public transport and council assets.

Belinda Noble, founder and chief executive of Comms Declare, an advocacy group working to ban fossil fuel advertising in Oceania, argues local authorities have "enormous" influence over what their constituents see every day and are a powerful force for change. "They are more responsive to community needs and are usually less beholden to the interests of industry or big coal and gas donors," she adds.

Sutherland says there is often a much stronger focus on shifting consumption at city level than a national one. "Cities are often very ambitious on climate," she says. They also have a strong track record of making changes that are being replicated nationally such as clean transport and waste reduction, she adds.

Still, not all attempts to pass bans in cities have worked. A campaign in Toronto, Canada, for example, was voted down in July 2025, with some councillors raising concerns about the complexity of deciding whether advertising is false or misleading.

Introducing bans in the US, meanwhile, is difficult because advertising is protected under the Constitution's First Amendment, says Ellen Goodman, professor of law at Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. That means any restrictions would be subject to "fairly stringent" judicial review, she says. Instead, US climate activists have focused on legal action trying to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their impact on climate change.

To date, most national governments have focused more on the messages contained within corporate advertising, often through their regulator, rather than the adverts themselves. (Read more about the adverts banned for misleading climate claims).

Still, some countries are already exploring national bans.

In 2022, France became the first European country to ban adverts for fossil fuels through a climate law, although advocates say implementation has since stalled.

The Spanish government voted in June 2025 in favour of a draft bill that would ban advertising of fossil fuels and vehicles exclusively powered by fossil fuels, as well as short flights if there are more sustainable alternatives. However, it still has to pass parliament, which experts say will be difficult. 

More widely in Europe, there is more support than opposition for advertising restrictions, according to one study.

It is too early to know the full impact of the bans in place so far, but the evidence of previous advertising restrictions shows they may well create changes.

After TfL introduced a junk food advertising ban in London in 2019, for example, families put an average of 1,000 less calories in their weekly shops, with a particularly big drop in chocolate and sweets and a likely knock-on reduction in obesity and public healthcare costs. And it did not result in a drop in advertising revenue as some had feared – in fact, this increased.

Likewise, fast food advertising restrictions in Chile aimed at improving children's health led to a 24% drop in purchases of sugary drinks and a rise in healthier options.

Tobacco consumption around the world has also dropped following advertising restrictions, which began in the 1960s and became progressively tougher. And a 2022 review of the research on gambling adverts suggests that cracking down on them could "reduce overall harm and mitigate the impact of advertising on gambling-related inequalities".