Dutch City The Hague Is World’s First Banning Oil and Air Travel Ads
The Hague has just become the first city in the world to ban oil ads and ads for large energy-consuming industries including air travel and cruise ships.
The Hague, whose city council on Friday adopted the proposal to ban these ads from January 1, 2025, is the Netherlands’ administrative center, where the Parliament, the Supreme Court, and several major international courts are based.
The city is the world’s first to adopt such a ban, after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier this year called on governments to ban these ads.
“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,” Guterres said in June, when he called out oil companies for profiteering off the climate crisis.
“Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities,” Guterres said, adding that “Meanwhile, the Godfathers of climate chaos – the fossil fuel industry – rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies.”
