Roush Fenway becomes first carbon neutral NASCAR team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Roush Fenway Racing set a goal to reduce its carbon footprint even as it raced a pair of gas-guzzling cars all across the country.

The initiative started with small environmentally conscious measures that eventually grew into a company-wide initiative. With support from partner Castrol, RFR became the first carbon neutral team in NASCAR.

Roush Fenway on Thursday a nnounced its carbon neutrality certification according to the PAS 2060 standard, verified by independent third party ERM CVS. Roush reached the status throughout its entire organization, including operations and its two race teams, for 2020.

The team will mark the achievement Sunday at Daytona International Speedway with a special paint scheme on Ryan Newman’s car. The Ford is typically a dominant green with red accents when Castrol sponsors the No. 6.

Newman’s car this week will be stark white with a grey Castrol badge and muted logos from partners that supported the initiative. It created a clean look that symbolizes the minimalistic path to carbon neutrality. Castrol in its sponsorship negotiations with RFR mandated a contract clause that the team work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and offset the balance.

“We’ve spent months tracking, quantifying, measuring our existing carbon footprint and ways to reduce our carbon footprint,” RFR President Steve Newmark said. “There’s no doubt that we have unavoidable carbon emissions in how we operate our business. When you race cars and travel around the country to do so, that will inevitably be part of our operations.

“We’re trying to show that even companies in an industry like ours can take steps to reduce overall emissions, and, our hope is that it will set an example for other teams and the racing industry.”

To become carbon neutral, RFR set a goal to recycle 90% of every race car, including oil, rubber, aluminum and carbon fiber. The organization has reduced its overall waste produced to more than 100 tons over the last decade, switched to LED lighting throughout its campus, reduced energy consumption costs through computer-controlled HVAC systems and installed reflective roofing membranes to reduce solar heat gain.

Rainwater runoff at its North Carolina facility is captured and contained for landscape irrigation, and idling has been prohibited on campus to reduce emissions and air pollutants. The fleet of Roush company cars is being converted to Ford electric and hybrid vehicles.

Newman already has the all-electric Mustang Mach-E, the first Ford production developed from ground-up to produce a zero-emission vehicle.