Edinburgh looks set to ban adverts for sport utility vehicles and other fossil-fuel-powered vehicles in a bid to slash promotion of industries which contribute to pollution.
The Scottish capital will now look to crack down on advertising from council-owned spaces, including billboards, bus stops and digital screens.
The local authority said it was imperative for a prohibition to take place as “the promotion of high-carbon products is incompatible with net zero objectives”.
It will outlaw the advertising or sponsorship proposal of cars, with the exception of electric and hydrogen cars if they are not SUVs.
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Experts have consistently called for car adverts to be banned
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The ban will also apply to other polluting industries, like the aviation sector, fossil fuel companies and cruise holidays, although it will not outlaw the promotion of meat products.
Any offending high-carbon businesses will also be barred from sponsoring events or other partnerships in Edinburgh.
In 2022, climate charity Possible, thinktank New Weather Institute and activist network Adfree Cities, called on National Rail to end the advertising of high-carbon products and industries.
The “Badvertising” coalition said it did not make sense for fossil fuel-powered vehicles to be advertised on public transport amid plans for the Government to get more drivers to switch to cleaner forms of travel.
Commenting on the decision of Edinburgh City Council to ban certain adverts, Robbie Gillett from Adfree Cities, said the capital had taken an “important step” in banning the harmful adverts.
He added: “Our daily exposure to adverts encouraging us to buy more and more polluting products runs in contradiction to the urgent need to decarbonise our economy.
“This is literally world-leading climate policy, putting Edinburgh ahead of any other global capital city.”
Sheffield City Council also introduced a similar policy to end advertising opportunities for polluting and unhealthy, with other councils including Cambridgeshire, Coventry and Somerset looking to do the same.
Sinn Fein, the opposition party in the Republic of Ireland, called for new laws to end fossil fuel advertising in March earlier this year.
Councillor Alys Mumford, who represents the Scottish Greens for Portobello/Craigmillar, said the council believed in climate justice, which prompted the action to ban certain types of advertising.
She said: “We believe in emissions reduction and we believe in making Edinburgh a better place to live and work.
“We know that climate anxiety is very real and having a massive impact on the mental health of our young people.
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Paris recently voted to increase parking charges for SUVs REUTERS“This is about what we say about ourselves as a council and as a city.”