Petrol-guzzling F1 vows to become carbon neutral
● Formula One has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030 as the sport attempts to burnish its green credentials to appeal to commercial sponsors and younger fans.
The world’s pre-eminent racing-car competition has announced measures designed to reduce its emissions by between 20% and 50% over the next decade, including moving to biofuels, leaving no waste at grands prix and changing the race calendar so teams fly less for events. However, it has stopped short of abandoning the internal combustion engines that have powered its race cars for its nearly 70-year history.
The move comes as Liberty Media, the US group which acquired F1 for $8bn (about R118bn) in 2016, has struggled to increase revenue since its takeover. Those travails come as Formula E, a new motorsports series featuring electric cars, has snapped up new sponsors attracted to its green message.
Chase Carey, Formula One’s chair and CEO, said the ambition to go carbon neutral had altruistic motives but also admitted the pledge reflected concern that environmentally conscious audiences could be turned off by F1’s petrol-guzzling image. “It’s a good thing for us, because our fans care about it,” said Carey. “It’s a good thing to have a solution. And it’s a good thing for our business, because our partners care about it.”
An audit found that F1’s activities produce about 256,000t of carbon dioxide a year, the equivalent of providing energy to about 30,000 homes for the same period.
The company has pledged to reduce its “scope one and two” emissions, which include everything from cars on the track to flying teams around the world, but does not include travel by fans.
Under the plan, F1 will cut scope one and two emissions by 20%-50% by 2030. Those emissions that cannot be eliminated will be matched by offsetting measures such as carbon sequestration or planting trees. F1’s plans to reduce its footprint include running cars on fuels generated from household waste or algae.
Grands prix are to be made greener, such as by eliminating the use of single-use plastics at events, with all remaining waste either recycled, reused, or composted.
“There are going to be a lot of people who will say, well, this is just a bunch of greenwashing, but, as you’ll see, this is a long-term, 10-year plan,” said Yath Gangakumaran, F1’s director of corporate strategy and business development. Times
There are going to be a lot of people who will say, ‘well, this is just a bunch of greenwashing’