Bristol has joined nearly two dozen other UK cities in cracking down on the promotion of high-carbon products like petrol and airline flights on council-owned property.
In a UK first, however the ban also includes adverts that encourage the over-consumption of fast fashion – an industry that demands vast amounts of resources such as water and oil-based synthetic materials to keep up with global clothing trends. The textile sector is responsible for 2-10 percent of global carbon emissions yearly, according to a 2023 report by the United Nations Environment Program, along with nearly 10 percent of ocean microplastic pollution.
Bristol city councillors voted on September 14 to expand the city’s 2021 policy restricting advertising for junk food, alcohol, gambling, payday loans, and tobacco to include products and services that are major sources of climate-heating carbon pollution.
Along with fast fashion, the ban now includes adverts or marketing for oil and gas companies, alongside cars running in whole or part on petrol or diesel, all SUVs, airlines, airports, and cruises.
The restrictions apply to council-owned sites across the city, including bus stops. However, ads for these industries may still run on billboards and screens that are not owned by the council.
Local representatives and campaigners welcome the ban, saying it will reduce climate impacts and improve neighbourhoods.
“Advertising forces itself upon all of us. While scrolling, while walking, while waiting for the bus, it has negative impacts on our health and wellbeing,” said deputy leader of Bristol City Council Heather Mack, who spearheaded the policy. “The advert ban “is something we can do quite easily to reduce our climate impact and improve our local neighbourhoods,” she said.
“We know ad bans are a catalyst for healthy change,” said Nicola Wilks, co-founder and co-director of the campaign group Adfree Cities, in a statement. “Removing tobacco ads saved lives by reducing levels of smoking. As a Bristol resident who cares deeply about climate change and air pollution, I am proud that Bristol has gone even further than other UK councils in curbing polluting ads. It feels like common sense.”
According to Adfree Cities, more than 20 UK councils have now introduced some form of restriction on the advertising of polluting products and services, citing their incompatibility with goals to improve air quality and reduce climate-harming emissions.
Bristol councillors’ decision is the latest in a global trend of cities and regions targeting major polluters with ad bans. In the UK, Sheffield and Edinburgh have adopted similar bans on high-carbon advertising on council-owned property. In the Netherlands, The Hague, and Amsterdam have introduced legal bans on fossil fuel advertising in public spaces citywide.
The advertising and fossil fuel industries are resisting these bans. DeSmog recently revealed that 15 companies and trade associations, including oil and gas giant TotalEnergies, lobbied to dilute France’s national restrictions on fossil fuel advertising.
DeSmog also exposed a last- minute lobbying attempt earlier this year by the world’s largest outdoor advertising company, JCDecaux, to prevent the Amsterdam ban.
While supporting the ban in Bristol, city councillors said there was a “moral argument” for banning ads for industries that are harmful. However, Conservative councillor John Goulandris said the policy made him “uneasy”. “I’m surprised you haven’t said that we’re going to ban Christmas, because Christmas is a time of great consumption, it’s very bad for the environment”, he said.
Goulandris is not the first Tory representative to oppose advertising restrictions on harmful products. Former culture minister Lord Ed Vaizey pushed back against increasing regulation of the advertising industry at the annual Advertising Association conference in January 2026.
“I see a political class that is tempted to ban what it doesn’t like rather than use the power of advertising to change behaviour,” he said.
Bristol’s updated policy has the potential to incur losses of up to £80,000 per year of advertising revenue, according to a report prepared by Bristol’s policy, strategy, and public affairs team — while acknowledging that neither Sheffield nor Edinburgh, which have similar restrictions, have reported any financial impacts as a result.
The report also found that the city’s advertising revenue did not decrease following its 2021 ban on junk food advertising — the first outside London — despite a projected £150,000 loss in advertising revenue.
In a statement, Carla Denyer, MP for Bristol Central, called the policy update “hugely rewarding.” Denyer helped to institute the junk food advertising ban in 2021, and has continued to advocate for further restrictions on the advertising of harmful products.
“Our Green-led council is making huge strides on Bristol’s climate and sustainability commitments, working on public transport infrastructure, home heating and community energy,” she said in the statement. “It makes no sense for these efforts to be running alongside advertisements for things like oil and gas companies, SUVs, or fast fashion which do not align with our community values.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on governments to ban all fossil fuel advertising, calling the advertising and PR companies who work with the polluting industries “enablers to planetary destruction.”
Reporting contributed by Emily J Gertz.
