‘SUV adverts should be banned immediately to meet UK climate goals’

A campaign launched by the thinktank The New Weather Institute is calling for an end to advertising for the ‘dirtiest third’ of new cars being sold

Adverts for sport utility vehicles (SUVs) should be banned to help meet UK climate goals.

That’s the suggestion from thinktank The New Weather Institute, which has launched a campaign with climate action charity Possible to stop adverts of cars, airline flights and fossil fuels.

The campaign follows a report which shows rapidly increasing sales of bigger and more polluting cars in the UK are putting climate goals out of reach.

The findings of the report also reveal SUVs now make up more than four in ten new cars sold in the UK, with more than 150,000 cars being sold across the country in 2019.

Andrew Simms, Co-Director of the New Weather Institute, commented: “We ended tobacco advertising when we understood the threat from smoking to public health.

“Now that we know the human health and climate damage done by car pollution, it’s time to stop adverts making the problem worse. In a pandemic-prone world, people need clean air and more space in town and city streets.”

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