Haarlem Becomes the First City in the World to Ban Meat Adverts

The Dutch city of Haarlem is set to become the first city in the world to ban adverts for meat in public spaces, because of the damage meat production does to the climate.

Haarlem, a city of 160,000 people just west of Amsterdam, will take adverts for intensively farmed meat off its buses, bus shelters and public screens from 2024, when its current advertising contracts run out. The motion was tabled by Ziggy Klazes, a councillor for the green party GroenLinks, and won support from the Christian Democrats. The council still has to work through the legal details before the ban takes effect.

Amsterdam, Leiden and The Hague have already banned "fossil" adverts for flying, petrol cars and the fossil fuel industry, but stopped short at meat. Haarlem is the first to add it to the list. "Producing non-organic meat is very harmful to the climate," Klazes told NL Times. "We take this very seriously."

We want to do what is in our power locally and do not want to tempt people to make choices that are bad for the environment. We believe that a kilo of pork for a few euros is really no longer acceptable at this time. It is too heavy a burden on the environment.

And speaking to the Dutch newspaper Trouw, Klazes summed up the whole idea in one line:

Meat is just as harmful to the environment. We can't tell people there's a climate crisis and encourage them to buy products that are part of the cause.

Nobody is being told what to eat. Haarlem's butchers and supermarkets can still sell whatever they like. The city has simply decided that it won't rent out its own public walls to sell products that work against its climate goals. It hasn't yet decided whether adverts for more sustainably produced meat will be included.

Predictably, the meat sector isn't happy, with its industry body telling Trouw that "the authorities are going too far in telling people what's best for them". Which is a bit rich from an industry that spends millions telling people what to eat on every bus stop in the country.

The climate case is clear. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates livestock are responsible for around 14.5% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, roughly the same as every car, lorry, ship and plane on Earth combined. Oxford researchers have shown a shift to plant-based diets could save 8 million lives and cut emissions dramatically.

It's a big year for the Netherlands. In April the Dutch government made the largest public investment ever in cultivated meat. It follows Epicurious dropping beef recipes for the planet, Germany banning meat at official functions and the UK's Advertising Standards Authority ruling that 'inhumane' is a fair description of dairy.

One city down. Plenty more bus shelters to go.