Bristol councillors have backed a move to end high-carbon advertising on local authority-owned sites.

The decision from Bristol City Council saw members of the Strategy and Resources Committee vote to stop the advertising of all petrol and diesel cars, hybrid vehicles, SUVs, flights, fossil fuel companies, and fast fashion campaigns on council-controlled advertising spaces.

These spaces include bus shelters, digital screens, and billboards across Bristol.

Committee members voted eight to one in support of changing the Advertising and Sponsorship Policy last Monday, with the aim of ensuring that the local authority’s advertising estate ‘will no longer be used to promote products and services which produce disproportionately high levels of carbon emissions’.

The move supports the council’s environmental goals to fast-track climate action and nature recovery work, as well as its broader efforts to boost public health and sustainability.

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Cllr Heather Mack, Deputy Leader of Bristol City Council, said the vote ‘is a win-win for the people of Bristol’.

She said: ‘Advertising forces itself upon all of us. Whilst scrolling, whilst walking, whilst waiting for the bus, it has negative impacts on our health and wellbeing as well as the climate, environment and local economy. And it is unsurprisingly the most extractive and damaging industries that are able to spend the most.’

Cllr Mack added: ‘In Bristol we are committed to pushing back on this, so I am delighted that as a council we have today banned the advertising of high-carbon products.

‘As the first council to introduce restrictions on the advertising of fast fashion, we will continue to look at how we can keep improving our advertising policy so that our outdoor spaces reflect the positive values of Bristol and the local economy.’