Description
Who: Municipality of Saint-Gilles (central neighborhood of Brussels), Belgium
What: Motion that calls upon Municipality of Brussels to stop fossil advertising
When: 27th of March, 2025
On March 27, the municipal council of Saint-Gilles adopted a motion calling for a ban on fossil fuel advertising in the Brussels Capital Region. With this decision, Saint-Gilles becomes the first Belgian municipality to explicitly take a stand against advertisements from the fossil fuel industry.
This breakthrough is the result of years of campaigning by civil society organizations such as Fossil Free Advertising, led in Brussels by Anuna De Wever and supported by David Van Reybrouck, along with many others, including Greenpeace and Bxl Sans Pub.
“Fossil fuel advertising is the backbone of the fossil industry and a crucial tool to keep promoting their harmful products. It is essential that Brussels, as the capital of the EU, takes the lead by banning such advertising. The motion passed in Saint-Gilles today is an important step toward this change and could encourage Brussels to follow suit,” said Anuna De Wever.
EU capital
De Wever emphasized that banning fossil ads is particularly important in Brussels, as the EU capital:
“Ads from Total, Shell, and Exxon here are especially targeted at EU politicians. These are lobbying ads meant to mislead. In this era of misinformation, the ban is a vital step.”
The decision by Saint-Gilles is part of a global movement. In June 2024, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all countries to ban fossil fuel advertising. Cities like The Hague, Edinburgh, Sydney, and public transportation systems in Toronto and Stockholm have already implemented bans on fossil ads. In France, a national ban on fossil fuel advertising has been adopted but is not yet in effect. There is broad scientific support for such a ban.
Municipalities as frontrunners
Loes Salomez, city councillor for the Green party (Groen) in Saint-Gilles and initiator of the motion in the municipal council, said:
“At a time when climate ambitions are declining, I’m proud that Saint-Gilles has approved a motion to strengthen its climate goals, with a focus on vulnerable residents. It’s a crucial step toward climate justice by addressing the fossil fuel industry and its advertising in public space.”
With this decision, the municipality of Saint-Gilles reaffirms the urgency of strong climate policies and recognizes fossil advertising as a fundamental obstacle. It increases pressure on the Brussels Capital Region and other municipalities to consider similar measures and further limit the impact of fossil fuel advertising on the climate.
Motion text
The motion was tabled by the Ecolo-Green group and the college, which together have a majority. Saint-Gilles is the central borough of Brussels.
The motion (in Dutch) defines fossil advertising as follows:
1) all forms of promotional activities deployed by the fossil fuel and aviation industries.This includes companies, interest groups or organisations within the coal, oil and gas and/or aviation sectors; and
2) advertising aimed at promoting fossil fuel products and services. This can include fossil products such as petrol, fossil fuel-based electricity contracts, airline tickets, cruises, cars, motorbikes, mopeds and scooters powered by fossil or hybrid fuel engines.
