Martina Igini
The Italian city of Genoa on Tuesday joined a growing list of cities and municipalities around the world that are banning the advertisement of polluting products.
The motion, approved at the city’s council with 23 votes in favor and 14 opposed, includes a ban on ads for fossil-fuel-based products with a high carbon footprint. It comes just months after Florence became the first Italian city to adopt a ban on fossil fuel advertising in public spaces, marking a historic turning point in Italy’s urban climate policies.
Advertising plays a crucial role in shaping public perception and consumer habits. Supporting this motion means freeing the places we encounter in our daily lives—such as bus stops and train stations — from advertisements that normalize practices harmful to the public interest, people’s health, and the climate,” said Genoa City Councillor and lead proposer of the motion Francesca Ghio.
Andrea Sbarbaro, President of Cittadini Sostenibili, an Italian grassroots association active on the issue of fossil advertising, said he was “proud” of the decision. “Our region is sadly known for its vulnerability and the frequency of extreme weather events. Freeing our public spaces from fossil fuel advertising is not merely a symbolic gesture: it’s a vital step in promoting lifestyle models that align with the safety and the long-term future of our community,” he said.
Growing global movement
To date, over 50 cities, mostly European, have either restricted such ads in specific areas or tabled motions to introduce formal limitations. Some – including several Dutch municipalities, Stockholm, Edinburgh, and Sydney – have banned them altogether.
The Hague, the administrative capital of the Netherlands, became the first city in the world to ban advertisements promoting high-carbon services such as cruise ships and air travel in 2024. Meanwhile, Spain could soon become the first country in the world to impose a nationwide ban after the government, last year, approved a draft bill that would prohibit the advertising of fossil fuels, fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, and short-haul flights where more sustainable rail alternatives exist.
“Shameless greenwashing”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has previously called on countries to ban fossil fuel advertising in the same way they restricted tobacco. “Many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action – with lobbying, legal threats, and massive ad campaigns. They have been aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies – Mad Men fuelling the madness,” Guterres said in a speech in 2024.
The UN chief said advertising and PR agencies, as well as news media and tech companies, are enabling planetary destruction and urged them to stop promoting fossil fuels and drop existing clients.
“Banning fossil fuel advertising and forcing the PR sector to cut ties with systemically polluting companies is a clear necessity for building a cleaner and fairer future,” ClientEarth Lawyer Johnny White said in response to Guterres’ call. “We can either have a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, or we can have fossil fuel industry influence continuing to permeate our societies and subvert climate action. We can’t have both.”
Fossil advertisements increase CO₂ emissions and undermine climate action. Scientists, the UN leaders, and cities worldwide are calling for a ban. As with tobacco advertising, a ban works. It is effective, inexpensive, has ample societal support and can be implemented tomorrow.
More advertising for fossil fuel products and industries means more fossil fuel use and less information integrity about climate change. This leads to more greenhouse gas emissions, more damage to the climate, confirmation of unsustainable norms, less sense of urgency, and no effective climate policies. This runs counter to the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels.
The world decided in the Paris Agreement that we need to phase out fossil fuels, aiming for climate neutrality by 2050 and a reduction of at least 55% in net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
According to the IPCC, the global scientific consensus, as much as 40-70% of the climate reduction target by 2050 depends on behavioral changes, such as banning fossil ads.
The Cambridge Sustainability Commission and many others also referred to advertising restrictions as a lever to accelerate climate action.
It’s therefore that in 2024, the UN Secretary-General Guterres urged “every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies”.
In short:
- More fossil ads = more CO₂ emissions
- Behavioural change is crucial (IPCC: 40–70% emission reductions dependent on mass behavioural change)
- For behavioural change and climate policy, sustainable norms and behaviour and information integrity are crucial
- Less fossil ads, means less climate change and pollution, and better (planetary) health
- Several UN leaders and health professionals call for a global ad ban
Cities and regions banned fossil ads
Den Haag / The Hague (NL) – First municipality to ban fossil ads by law / court case won! Bloemendaal (NL), Utrecht (NL), Delft (NL), Nijmegen (NL), Leiden (NL), Zwolle (NL), Deventer (NL), Amsterdam (NL), Groningen (NL), Arnhem (NL), Eindhoven (NL), Florence (Italy), Sheffield (UK), Edinburough (UK), Yarra (AUS), Tassi (AUS), Somerset (UK), Blue Mountains (AUS), Mitcham (AUS), Merri-Bek (AUS), Sydney (AUS),Amersfoort (NL), Tilburg (NL), Amstelveen (NL), Darebin (AUS), Inner West (AUS), Moreland (AUS), Haarlem (NL), Maribyrnong (AUS), New South Wales (UK), Hackney, London (UK), Region of Stockholm (SE), Wageningen (NL), Fremantle (AUS), Wingecarribee (AUS), Byron Bay (AUS), Glen Eira (AUS), Cambridgeshire (UK), Coventry (UK), Liverpool (UK), Norwich (UK), North Somerset (UK), Basingstoke and Deane Borough (UK), Region of Gothenborg Västtrafik (SE), Toronto (CA), Montreal bike sharing and Montreal transport agency (CA), Chester & Cheshire West (UK), Medway County (UK), Sint-Gilles(Brussels) (BE), Greater Wellington Regional Council (New Zealand), Stockholm (SE), Hattem (NL), Cardiff (UK), Portsmouth (UK), Cottesloe (AUS), Uppsala (Sweden), Genova (Italy), US States Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii and Maine have a billboard ban (US), São Paulo – however turned it back later (Brazil), Grenoble (France), Greater Lyon – greatly reduced incl. all digital screens (France), Vevey (Switzerland), Vernier (Switzerland) , Lancy (Switzerland), Bern (Switzerland), Wageningen (Netherlands).
Martina Igni is a journalist and editor with experience covering climate change, extreme weather, climate policy and litigation. At Earth.Org, she singlehandedly manages over 100 global contributing writers and oversees the publication’s editorial calendar. She also curates the news section and multiple newsletters. Before moving to Asia, she worked in Vienna at the United Nations Global Communication Department and in Italy as a local news reporter. She holds two BA degrees – in Translation Studies and Journalism – and an MA in International Development from the University of Vienna.