The Hague in the Netherlands has become the first city across the globe to pass a legally binding rule banning advertisements promoting fossil fuel products and services. It is the first time a city has banned high-carbon advertising through local legislation.
The landmark legislation enacted on Thursday brings an end to publicly and privately funded advertising for petrol and diesel, aviation and cruise ships in the streets of The Hague, including on billboards and bus shelters. It takes effect from the beginning of next year.
The legislation took a couple of years to pass. It fans advertising for high-carbon fossil fuel products and services but does not cover political advertising by the fossil fuel industry or adverts that promote a general brand, reported The Guardian.
Fossil fuel companies are “godfathers of climate chaos”
Fossil fuel advertising undermined climate policy as it normalised and promoted unsustainable behaviour, said professor Thijs Bouman at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, stressing the need for Major government investments to counteract the negative effect of fossil advertising.
“If fossil advertising is banned, these resources can be better deployed, for example, to strengthen sustainable options and facilities such as public transport,” he added. The Hague’s ban comes after UN chief Guterres earlier urged governments and media to enact such bans.Fossil fuel companies are the “godfathers of climate chaos” and should be prevented in every country across the globe from advertising akin to restrictions on big tobacco, the secretary general noted in a major speech in the US earlier this year.
