Helsinki votes in favour of banning fossil fuel adverts – but there could be a 10-year delay

Published on 09/10/2026 - 15:26 GMT+2 Helsinki has become the latest European city to vote in favour of banning advertising for fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive products and services. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The landmark proposal was brought to the City Council of Helsinki by Councillor Isaac Jyväsjärvi and 27 fellow councillors. It follows previous attempts to introduce restrictions on outdoor advertising from “carbon-intensive industries” that gained momentum in 2021 but failed to reach a majority support. The exact scope of the restriction is to be determined ahead of the next advertising contract period, but campaigners say it could one day rid the streets of billboards promoting industries such as aviation, shipping, tourism and construction – as well as fossil fuels. Existing advertising contracts in the city run until 2035, meaning it may take almost a decade for the ban to come into effect. Helsinki will now investigate the legal possibilities for restricting different types of advertising, as well as the potential impacts on the environment, the city’s finances and the wider media landscape. Helsinki votes to ban fossil fuels ads “Cities can’t keep working to cut emissions while allowing their own advertising spaces to encourage more flying and fossil fuel consumption,” says Niklas Kaskeala, Helsinki-based climate campaigner and Board Member of Protect Our Winters Finland. “Helsinki’s decision won’t make these ads disappear overnight, but it draws an important line – and every city that takes this step makes it easier for others to follow.” Anna Jonsonn, co-founder of NGO New Weather Sweden, also welcomes the ban, adding: “It’s time to stop promoting the industries that are fuelling the climate crisis. “With this decision, Helsinki becomes the second Nordic capital to move towards such a ban, after Stockholm. A ban on fossil fuels ads is not a question of if; it is a question of when.” Europe’s new era of green marketing Helsinki City Council specifically cited other European cities that have moved to restrict fossil advertising when discussing the proposal. Earlier this year, Amsterdam stripped its streets of billboards promoting meat and fossil fuel products as part of its target to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and halve meat consumption during the same period. The decision to ban fossil fuel advertising... comes at a crucial moment in the fight against climate change,” Femke Sleegers, coordinator of the Reclame Fossielvrij (Fossil Free Advertising) initiative, said when the ban was first proposed in 2020. “Adverts that portray fossil fuels as normal worsen climate disruption and have no place in a city − or a country − that has complied with the Paris Agreement.” Over in the UK, Bristol has recently become the first British city to impose an advertising ban on fast-fashion, SUVs, airlines, cruises and fossil fuels on all council-owned sites. Since the summer of 2026, fossil fuel advertising has also been banned across city-owned billboards and public spaces in Stockholm.