Dutch city plans to ban most meat adverts

Global livestock is responsible for 7.1 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions per year

A Dutch city is set to ban adverts for most meat products from public spaces due to the climate crisis.

The move comes after a motion was proposed by the Netherlands green party, GroenLinks.

The party said adverts for broiler chicken and factory-farmed meat will be prohibited from 2024, but it is unclear if the ban will also include ads for organic meat and dairy.

Ziggy Klazes, a councillor from GroenLinks, told Dutch newspaper Trouw that a ban on dairy commercials will be a “step too far”.

“Meat is very harmful to the environment. We cannot tell people that there is a climate crisis and encourage them to buy products that are part of it,” Klazes said.

The United Nations estimates that global livestock is responsible for 7.1 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions per year, the equivalent of 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

The news has been met with opposition from the meat sector, with a spokesperson for the Central Organisation for the Meat Sector describing the ban as “patronising”.

“The authorities are going too far in telling people what’s best for them,” a spokesperson told BBC.

The change in law means advertisements bearing meat products will no longer appear on buses, shelters and billboards across the city, which has a population of around 160,000 people.

Klazes told radio channel Haarlem105 that she understands some people may find the ban “outrageous”.

“We are not about what people are baking and roasting in their own kitchen; if people wanted to continue eating meat, fine,” Klazes said.

“We can’t tell people there’s a climate crisis and encourage them to buy products that are part of the cause.

“Of course, there are a lot of people who find the decision outrageous and patronising, but there are also a lot of people who think it’s fine.”

According to Statistics Netherlands, 95 per cent of the country’s population eats meat, but more than half are considered “flexitarian”.

Around 45 per cent of adults eat meat on maximum four days a week, while 30 per cent eat it five to six days per week.