Momentum in Liverpool to ban high-carbon ads

It could be that Liverpool City Council becomes the new Amsterdam when it comes to prohibiting advertising for products fuelling the climate emergency. After Badvertising supporters in Liverpool wrote to their councillors using our online tool,  a motion was brought to a full Council meeting in January 2021 to implement a Low Carbon Advertising Policy.  The Council voted to review its advertising policies in light of the climate emergency it had declared back in 2019 and committed to act up upon by bringing the city to net zero carbon by 2030. 

A low-carbon advertising policy

On January 20th 2021, a motion for the city to introduce a low carbon advertising policy was unanimously passed  at a Liverpool City Council meeting (see page 15 of these council minutes). The policy would form part of the Council’s planning policies and apply to advertising panels (ie. bus stops, billboards and advertising spaces) controlled  by Liverpool City Council and the City Combined Region Authority.

The motion suggests that advertising should align with its own objectives around public health or environmental matters:

“This Council believes that –

the purpose of advertising is to stimulate demand for goods and services; and some advertising content undermines the council's objectives regarding public health, air pollution and sustainable consumption” 

It goes on to explicitly state that some of the products advertised in Liverpool directly undermine its climate targets: 

“...petrol and diesel car adverts, especially for Sports Utility Vehicles, undermine air quality objectives and airline advertising undermines carbon emission targets”.

The motion retains the right for the council to review its current advertising concessions and to look into the possibility of amending the current set of restrictions - which are already in place for things such as tobacco products and e-cigarettes, guns and offensive weapons - so that it covers products which undermine  Liverpool Council’s climate change and pollution policy goals.  

What about other cities?

When the Dutch capital moved to ban advertising for fossil fuel, air travel and foreign holidays, it became the first of its kind to regulate high-carbon advertising. In the UK, Bristol has so far been setting the tone for controls on problem advertising thanks to an active network of campaigners on the ground. At the start of March 2021, the city adopted a policy to ban adverts for gambling, junk food products, alcohol and pay-day loans. But Bristol Council fell short of including high-carbon products in its policy - despite strong public calls in its favour - citing matters of public consultation which would have delayed its plans.

Norwich City Council is another local authority to watch out in the growing momentum against ads fuelling the climate crisis, as talks are going ahead between councillors and local campaigners to introduce a low-carbon advertising policy.

Across the UK, there are around 300 local authorities who have declared a climate emergency and committed to act upon it. But how can these authorities still promote products and services directly undermining the climate goals they have set for themselves? At Badvertising, we applaud Liverpool City Council’s decision in setting the agenda when it comes to acting swiftly and consistently on the climate emergency. 

If tobacco advertising was banned on the grounds that it damaged public health objectives, today we must extend this prohibition to include adverts that are setting us back on our climate targets.