Lisbon, July 24, 2025 (Lusa) - The environmental association Zero on Thursday called for a ban on fossil fuel advertising in Portugal, arguing that "there should be no airtime" for advertising products that burn the planet's future.
In a statement released today, the association says it has already filed a complaint on the matter, recalls the high temperatures in June and growing concerns about public health due to heat waves, and questions the logic of still advertising products "responsible for a significant part of greenhouse gas emissions".
Fossil fuels, it adds, lead to global warming, extreme weather events and air pollution.
Recalling that tobacco advertising was banned because it poses a serious and direct risk to health, Zero says that "it makes less and less sense to allow fossil fuel companies to continue to use the power of advertising to normalise, promote and even beautify products that compromise environmental health, aggravate respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and accelerate climate degradation".
For the association, defending this ban is not only a matter of climate consistency but also a measure of public health and intergenerational justice.
In its statement, Zero cites national legislation, such as the Advertising Code, particularly the section on the prohibition of advertising that encourages behaviour harmful to consumer health and safety, adding that the climate crisis jeopardises the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced living environment, as enshrined in the Constitution.
Zero therefore says it has lodged a complaint with the Media Regulatory Authority (ERC) about the practice of advertising fossil fuels or products that encourage their intensive use, and that the ERC has forwarded it to the Directorate-General for Consumers.
The association also announces in the statement that it is recommending legislative initiatives to clarify the legislation and ban the practice.
“As has already been done with tobacco, Zero proposes that Portugal recognise that fossil fuels are harmful to public health and the planet,” the statement stresses.
Zero believes there is a growing understanding of the “unsustainability of greenwashing campaigns and practices in the fossil fuel sector” and cites an analysis by the environmental organisation Greenpeace, according to which advertising by airlines and car manufacturers in Europe is contributing to the worsening of the global climate emergency.
The city of The Hague (Netherlands) and France already have restrictions on fossil fuel advertising, and Spain is preparing a law on this matter, says Zero, which considers it essential that Europe take ambitious legal measures "to steer consumption towards more responsible and sustainable alternatives, avoiding the use of fossil fuels".
Worldwide, it claims, more than 40 cities have already adopted measures against advertising fossil fuel products.
And UN leader António Guterres himself called on governments in 2024 to ban advertising for fossil fuel products.
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