Amsterdam has become the first capital city in the world to ban public advertising for both meat and fossil fuel products. From 1 May, adverts for burgers, petrol cars, and airlines have been removed from billboards, tram shelters, and metro stations. The ban, approved by the city council on 22 January following a proposal by the GreenLeft and Party for the Animals parties, covers advertising for air travel, cruises, and petrol-powered cars alongside meat products.
Politicians behind the move say it is about aligning Amsterdam's public spaces with its own environmental targets – carbon neutrality by 2050 and halving local meat consumption over the same period. Anneke Veenhoff of the GreenLeft Party stated: 'The climate crisis is very urgent. If you want to be leading in climate policies and you rent out your walls to exactly the opposite, then what are you doing?'
A city council memo justifying the decision argues that fossil fuel advertising normalises consumption that directly conflicts with the Paris climate path, and that every extra litre of fuel sold translates into additional CO2 emissions and air pollution. On meat, the memo describes excessive consumption of animal products as 'harmful to the environment and generally undesirable from an animal welfare perspective', drawing an explicit parallel with tobacco regulation: 'comparable to a ban on tobacco advertising: a visible discouragement policy in public spaces.'
The ban was driven by Anke Bakker, Amsterdam group leader for the Party for the Animals, who rejected accusations of nanny state overreach. She argued instead that constant advertising by large corporations limits rather than expands individual choice. 'Everybody can just make their own decisions, but actually we are trying to get the big companies not to tell us all the time what we need to eat and buy. In a way, we're giving people more freedom because they can make their own choice, right?' she said.
Campaign groups such as Creatives for Climate and Reclame Fossielvrij coordinated an open letter signed by more than 100 advertising professionals urging councillors to fulfil Amsterdam's 2020 commitment. Industry groups have pushed back; the Dutch Meat Association called the ban 'an undesirable way to influence consumer behaviour', while the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators argued the prohibition on holidays involving air travel was a disproportionate restriction on commercial freedom.
Other Dutch cities, including Haarlem, Utrecht, Nijmegen, and The Hague, have introduced similar restrictions, and France enacted a nationwide ban on fossil fuel advertising in 2022 with fines of up to €100,000. Amsterdam first committed to banning fossil fuel advertising in 2020 but took five years to implement it, navigating legal challenges and internal opposition.
