Momentum is growing in Europe for bans on fossil fuel and some transportation advertising and sponsorships, mirroring similar bans on tobacco advertising, Thomson Reuters reports. A coalition of more than 20 groups is calling for the publicity bans in light of fossil fuel firms’ historical denial of climate science. “The fossil fuel firms also copied the smoking companies’ strategies when they fed into climate denial,” Bas Eickhout, a Dutch Green MEP and vice-chair of the European Parliament’s environment committee, told Thomson Reuters. “It’s time we copied what was done with cigarette ads.”

The fossil fuel industry, like Big Tobacco before it, is expected to fight the effort, but, “The momentum for a complete ban on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship in Europe is starting to feel unstoppable,” Yannick Jadot, the French Green candidate in next year’s presidential election, told Thomson Reuters.

The mounting pressure comes as a new IMF report revealed the fossil fuel industry was effectively given $5.9 trillion in subsidies, including direct payments and external costs to the environment and public health, last year — about $11 million every minute. (Advertising: Thomson Reuters Foundation; Subsidies: The Guardian)