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Italy's first motion to ban fossil ads was tabled in Genoa, 18th of November 2024. The municipal council still needs to discuss the proposal, which is expected for March/April 2025.

 

Cities should enhance the common good

The motion follows an official request by Italian group Cittadini Sostenibili (Sustainable Citizen) to 22 Ligurian municipalities to restrict fossil ads. Francesca Ghio, councilor of the Red-Green List, was inspired and filed a motion in her council. “The public administration must stop lending its support and generating profit on this type of communication,” Francesca Ghio states. “The institutions have the role of enhancing the common good, of protecting us and managing the liveability of our spaces. Saying that I agree with this but then not implementing it in concrete terms through measures is a mockery that has been going on for too long. If we want to take concrete steps towards the vision of a more just society, we cannot but converge on the actions that will lead us towards the goal.”

Andrea Sbarbaro, president of Cittadini Sostenibili: “This is important news because it is effectively a 'first' in Italy, even if there is already a strong example in over 30 cities around the world, from Sydney to Edinburgh”.

 

Fossil fuels, SUVs, flights and cruises

The motion "commits the mayor and the municipal council to adopt all necessary measures to introduce restrictions or bans on advertising financed with public and private funds, in particularly sensitive places such as bus stops, metro stops and other advertising spaces linked to urban public transport, relating to products and services based on fossil fuels with a high carbon footprint, such as SUVs, airplanes, cruises".

The red-green councilor assures that "she has given priority to this motion in order to discuss it before the end of next year's mandate". She foresees the support of other political forces but, she adds, "I cannot guarantee it. Those who will exploit and avoid voting on the motion with political strategies will have to throw away the mask and admit that the fossil fuel lobby and politics are so intertwined that they do not allow action within the institutions to move clearly for the good of the people". 

But the work to put a limit on polluting advertising in Italian municipalities does not stop here. Ghio says he has contacted councilors from other cities such as Milan, Turin, Brescia, Verona and Rome, also making the necessary documentation available. Meanwhile, the Sustainable Citizens Association is pressing all the Ligurian municipal administrations contacted.

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