Amsterdam's Historic Ban on Meat and Fossil-Fuel Advertising

From 1 May 2024, Amsterdam removed all outdoor ads for burgers, petrol-powered cars, airlines and cruises. The council approved the ordinance on 22 January after a joint proposal from the GreenLeft and Party for the Animals.

The Independent

Amsterdam pledged in 2020 to ban fossil-fuel ads and later added meat ads, after Haarlem’s 2022 meat-ad ban and similar measures in Utrecht, Nijmegen and The Hague. GreenLeft MP Anneke Veenhoff called the climate crisis “very urgent,” and Party for the Animals leader Anke Bakker said limiting corporate messaging expands personal freedom. NGOs including Greenpeace and Reclame Fossielvrij lobbied councillors, noting “advertising is not neutral.” Dozens of cities—Edinburgh, Sheffield, Stockholm and Florence—have banned or are moving to ban fossil-fuel advertising, and France introduced a nationwide ban in 2022 with fines up to €100,000.

The Independent

Amsterdam’s outdoor-ad revenue exceeds €12 million. Council projects a 4–7.5 % drop in fossil-fuel bids, costing €456,000–€855,000. Meat ads were ~1 % and fossil-fuel ads ~4 % of market before the ban.

The Independent

Council documents argue fossil-fuel ads normalise consumption that conflicts with the Paris pathway, each extra litre of fuel adding CO2 and pollution. The memo labels animal-product consumption as environmentally harmful and likens the policy to historic tobacco-advertising bans. It stresses that advertising shapes social norms and must be governed to meet climate goals.

The Independent

Dutch Meat Association called the ban “an undesirable way to influence consumer behaviour,” insisting meat provides essential nutrients. Dutch Association of Travel Agents called the air-travel restriction a disproportionate curtailment of commercial freedom. Lawyer Hannah Prins, co-founder of Advocates for the Future, likened the move to a “tobacco moment” for high-carbon food and questioned the normality of “murdered animals on billboards.”

The Independent

• “The climate crisis is very urgent.” — Anneke Veenhoff, GreenLeft Party

The Independent

• “If you want to be leading in climate policies and you rent out your walls to exactly the opposite, then what are you doing?” — Anneke Veenhoff, GreenLeft Party

The Independent

• “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.” — Anke Bakker, Party for the Animals

The Independent

• “Advertising is not neutral.” — Creatives for Climate and Reclame Fossielvrij (open letter)

The Independent

• “An undesirable way to influence consumer behaviour.” — Dutch Meat Association

The Independent

• “What we see in our public space is what we find normal in our society. And I don't think it's normal to see murdered animals on billboards.” — Hannah Prins, Advocates for the Future

The Independent

Ordinance may face legal challenges from industries, echoing travel-industry case. Dutch municipalities are watching outcome as possible model for national regulation.

The Independent