Motor racing, a sport known for flashy, petrol-guzzling race cars speeding across twisting asphalt tracks, hasn\u2019t been a pastime known for sustainability. Formula One is trying to change that. <\/p>\n
Often referred to as \u201cthe pinnacle of motorsport,\u201d the race car organization, which hosts an annual championship featuring the best drivers in the world, has seen its carbon emissions drop 26% since 2018. At the end of the 2024 season, the sport\u2019s carbon footprint fell to 168,720 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from 228,793.<\/p>\n
Formula One said in a recent statement that it\u2019s halfway toward achieving its minimum 50% reduction target, as set out in its \u201cnet zero by 2030\u201d commitment. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a key milestone and the culmination of a lot of work,\u201d said Ellen Jones, head of environmental, social and governance at Formula One, in an interview. \u201cWe\u2019ve changed the way we operate, changed the way we work\u201d with the racing teams and promoters, as well Formula One\u2019s management and regulator, she said.<\/p>\n
A major factor in the reductions has been a years-long shift to renewable energy, Jones said. Investment in sustainable aviation fuel for travel and freight use, and other alternative energy sources, including solar and biofuels, contributed to the decline. Next year, Formula One has set a target for the cars to have new hybrid engines and be powered entirely by advanced sustainable fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not only changing what we\u2019re doing materially, we\u2019re also changing the technologies,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
The sport has achieved carbon reductions across the four major categories that it tracks: factories and facilities, down 59% since 2018; logistics, down 9%; event operations, down 12% on a per-race basis; and travel, down 25%. <\/p>\n
An increase in using remote operations and changes to the race schedule also have resulted in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Having remote broadcast operations has allowed about 140 personnel to avoid having to travel to the race location each weekend. And changing the date of the Japanese Grand Prix to align with other races last year in the Asia-Pacific region also contributed to lower emissions. In 2026, the date of the Monaco Grand Prix will be moved to align with other European events and eliminate an additional transatlantic crossing. <\/p>\n
Formula One said its climate commitment is \u201cset in accordance with the science\u201d from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and aligns with the panel\u2019s definition of net zero emissions. The racing series\u2019 goal is to reduce absolute emissions by a minimum of 50% from a 2018 baseline, which was calculated using guidance set by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.<\/p>\n
Formula One has faced criticism from activists who say the sport is harmful to the environment. In 2022, demonstrators with Just Stop Oil sat on the track during the 2022 British Grand Prix, disrupting the race. The construction of Madrid\u2019s Grand Prix street circuit also has prompted backlash.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian leg of the Formula One schedule takes place in November, days before the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be hosted in the South American country. <\/p>\n
Raimonde and March write for Bloomberg. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Motor racing, a sport known for flashy, petrol-guzzling race cars speeding across twisting asphalt tracks, hasn\u2019t been a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[20402,12843,11558,20395,1687,372,20394,6537,20399,10919,20396,20401,20397,3004,20400,12636,217,101,20398,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-34036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-asphalt-track","tag-carbon-footprint","tag-change","tag-ellen-jones","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one-shift","tag-formula1","tag-intergovernmental-panel","tag-japanese-grand-prix","tag-low-greenhouse-gas-emission","tag-race-location","tag-race-schedule","tag-racing","tag-reduction","tag-renewable-energy","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-sustainable-aviation-fuel","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}