Amsterdam bans public advertising of meat and fossil fuels

Amsterdam has become the first capital city in the world to ban public advertising of meat and fossil fuel products. Since 1 May, advertisements for hamburgers, petrol-powered cars and airlines have been removed from billboards, tram shelters and metro stations, the BBC website reports.

At one of the city's busiest tram stops, adjacent to a grassy roundabout lush with bright yellow daffodils and orange tulips, the advertising landscape has changed. Now the posters promote the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, and a piano concert. Until last week they were advertising chicken nuggets, SUVs and cheap holidays.

City politicians claim that the decision aims to bring Amsterdam's urban landscape in line with local government environmental objectives.

These targets include the Dutch capital becoming carbon-neutral by 2050 and citizens halving their meat consumption in the same period.

'The climate crisis is very urgent,' says Anneke Veenhoff of the GreenLeft party. "I mean, if you want to be at the forefront of climate policy and you rent your public spaces to someone who does exactly the opposite, then what are you doing? Most people don't understand why the municipality should make money by renting out our public spaces to someone we are actively pursuing policies against."