Description
City Council of Bayreuth (Germany) acknowledges initiative to ban fossil ads (17/1/2025)
Upon a citizen's proposal, the City Council of Bayreuth discussed a fossil ad ban on 17 January, 2025. Although the Council merely acknowledged a statement by the administration, this compiled information could not only be valuable to remove fossil advertising from the streets of Bayreuth, but for similar initiatives in other German cities.
Similar to the local law adopted by the City Council of Den Haag in September 2024, the citizen's proposal was to generally ban advertisement for products and services that produce very high greenhouse gas emissions, such as flight holidays, cruises and fossil and hybrid cars, visible in public space.
In its one-page statement on this proposal (which includes the proposal itself), the administration of Bayreuth explained that
- municipalities cannot adopt a general fossil ad ban under current German law. Municipalities can regulate the location and format of advertisement, also on private property, but not the content. The only exception is tobacco advertisement.
- municipalities can, however, exclude fossil products and services from contracts for advertising on public areas. The City of Bayreuth has commissioned the private "Bayreuth Marketing und Tourismus GmbH" (BMTG) with the marketing of advertisement in public space. The current contract expires in the end of this year (2025). For the new tender from 2026, limitations on the content of advertising could be included in the contract. Similar restrictions could be specified in contracts for advertisement on busses and bus stops, the only public transport in Bayreuth.
In the session, the administration's legal officer Ulrich Pfeifer emphasised that the Council has to balance potential restrictions with potentially reduced revenues from public advertising. Answering a question by Council member Klaus Wührl-Struller (Green Party), Pfeifer explained that the Council could decide on details for the re-tender in summer 2025.
What happened before: Overwhelming majority for fossil ad ban at Citizens' Assembly (11/11/2024)
Public action against fossil advertisement in Bayreuth started at the Citizens' Assembly on 11 November 2024. In the German state Bavaria, municipalities are obliged to hold such a Citizens' Assembly once per year. All citizens can attend this Assembly and submit proposals which, if they are accepted by a majority, have to be treated by the City Council.
The proposed fossil ad ban was inspired by the one adopted by the City Council of Den Haag in September 2024. Along with 27 other proposals, many of which aimed at a green and just transition in Bayreuth, a large majority of the 150 attendants at the Citizens' Assembly voted in favour of a fossil ad ban in Bayreuth.
Contact: bayreuth@parentsforfuture.de