Introduces a ban on advertising for fossil fuel vehicles

Advertising for air travel, cruise tours, and hybrid cars is also covered by the ban.

11.11.2026 10:05

Last week, Copenhagen’s city council approved a ban on advertising for fossil fuel cars, air travel, and cruise tours in publicly owned areas in the Danish capital.

The ban has a similar rationale to our own restrictions on alcohol and tobacco advertising, aiming to help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

The regulation will also cover marketing for leases of fossil fuel cars.

Advertising for electric cars, on the other hand, will remain allowed, and car manufacturers that sell both electric and fossil fuel vehicles will still be able to advertise their electric cars in public spaces.

Previously, major cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague in the Netherlands and Edinburgh in Scotland have also implemented similar bans.

– Absurd

In practice, the ban means that Copenhagen residents will not be able to see such advertising on, for example, bus stops and in the metro in the Danish capital.

– We are confronted every day with advertising that tries to sell us flight trips, cruise ships, and new gasoline cars as freedom, adventure, and a good life, says Karoline Lindgaard to Danmarks Radio.

She is the political leader of Alternativet in Copenhagen, one of the parties behind the proposal.

– On the back side of the medal from this consumption are climate change, air pollution, and a bill that we will all have to pay, she continues to DR.

Nevertheless, the Copenhagen municipality cannot control areas of the city that are not owned by the municipality.

Local politician Karoline Lindgaard believes the ban will still have some effect.

– It’s completely appropriate that we do what we can. It’s absurd that in Copenhagen we work to reduce CO2 emissions on one hand, while on the other hand we make our public spaces available for advertising that encourages us to emit more climate gases, she says to Danmarks Radio.

At the same time, electric cars are being sold in Denmark, so things are looking good for now, and in the summer we might see “Norwegian-like conditions” in car sales among our southern neighbors:

And over the autumn, it has actually decreased further. In September, 88.8 percent of new car sales were electric vehicles, and now over 24 percent of the car fleet is fully electric.

So perhaps there won’t be so many fossil fuel car ads on the streets of Copenhagen in the future, regardless?

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The post Introduction of a ban on fossil fuel car ads first appeared on Norsk elbilforening.