The Hague will ban street ads for fossil fuels from January

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Hague will ban street advertising for fossil fuels, a notice published on Friday on the Dutch city's website showed, as a number of cities worldwide crack down on publicity for fossil fuels and high-emissions sectors.

The city council in the Netherlands' third-largest city voted on Thursday to approve the new rules for outdoor advertising, which will apply from January to billboards and freestanding advertising screens.

The proposal had been introduced by the city's animal welfare-focused Party for the Animals.

The decision follows moves by cities such as Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Sydney, and a fiery speech by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in June calling for countries to ban fossil-fuel advertising.

Many countries have banned advertising for products that have proven harmful to human health, such as tobacco.  

The Hague, the country's administrative centre and the hub of international law, is seeking to be climate-neutral by 2030.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Hugh Lawson)