In what has been termed an act of leadership from the City of Sydney, a motion was put forward on 22 August by Sydney’s deputy mayor Jess Scully asking City of Sydney councillors to vote in favour of an inquiry into a ban on the advertising of fossil fuels. The vote comes after climate advocacy group Comms Declare launched a campaign for a ban on fossil fuels. The campaign delivered an open letter signed by over 200 health professionals, demanding a ban on fossil fuel ads to curb the health effects of burning coal, oil and gas.
Comms Declare founder, Belinda Noble said: “While we transition to cleaner energy it’s imperative that legacy industries are not allowed to greenwash their businesses or delay emissions reduction efforts.”
If fossil fuel advertising in Sydney is to be banned, it will stop advertisers from supporting high-profile events, including New Years’ Eve sponsorship opportunities in addition to losing the outdoor advertising network of the city.
In 2019, the City of Sydney declared a climate emergency. Scully told the meetings: “I think this is the moment we can draw a line in the sand and say ‘not here’ and ‘no more because we know that the people of the City of Sydney do want climate action, they do want us to move away from a fossil-fuel dependent economy and they do know that to do that we need to get rid of the whitewashing, get rid of the self-promotion that the sector is doing.”
A ban on fossil fuel advertising is not un-broken ground, with the Yarra council in Victoria becoming the first in Australia to legislate the restrictions on the advertising of fossil fuels on council-owned and run properties. This motion was followed by the Moreland council in July.
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