When you think about Formula One, I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you don’t think about saving the planet. If anything, the sport has connotations of destroying our world. And yes, 20 high-speed race cars driving in circles around a track in locations all around the globe is not the most sustainable. But, the sport may be more eco-friendly than you might think. And unlike lots of brands that pretend they care about the environment, but in actuality just give out a reusable water-bottle at every event they hold and call it a day, Formula 1 really is attempting to achieve sustainability.
The impact F1 has on the planet is not an overwhelmingly positive one. In 2019, F1 released its current emissions and was found to have a carbon footprint of around 256,551 tonnes of carbon dioxide. To put this into perspective, in order to balance out this figure, around 12.8 million trees would need to be planted – bear in mind that London only has roughly 8.4 million trees. However, only 0.7% of their emissions is from the cars themselves. The F1 global logistics actually contributes to 45% of emissions, whilst business travel including transportation, accommodation and travel contributes to 27.7%. There is clearly a lot that needs to be done.
However, Formula 1 know this and have been very clear on their plan. The sport set a clear target in 2019 to have a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030. They will have 100% renewably powered offices, faculties and factories, as well as net-zero cars. These cars are changing massively, with a new sustainable fuel, which will be introduced in 2026, expected to offer an 85-96% reduction in emissions in comparison to the fossil fuels used currently. Furthermore, they plan to have all events to be sustainable by 2025 and are working to achieve this in a multitude of ways. There will be no single-use plastics and all waste will be reduced, reused or recycled. There are many initiatives in place, like encouraging walking/biking to events, donating excess food to food banks, and having solar panels. Formula 1’s partnership with DHL is also promoting sustainability, working solely with biofuel trucks.
Obviously, these things are small, but they can still make a difference. F1 is also trying to use technology to become more sustainable, having more virtual paddocks and therefore having fewer members at track. This has been possible ever since 2020 and it allowed the sport to ‘reduce travelling staff by 37%’ (Dean Locke, F1’s Director of Broadcast and Media), which has a major impact in reducing carbon emissions.
In addition, many of the drivers (and ex-drivers) are also speaking out for sustainability, namely Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. The latter has led a multitude of projects to help the environment; from organising litter picking at tracks after a race, to making programmes about saving bees, and he has often spoken out in the media, urging the sport to do more.
One of the major issues around sustainability in F1 is the race calendar. The 2023 season consists of 23 races around the globe and this number is getting bigger every year. This requires more and more travelling, meaning more and more emissions. One way that the sport can try and reduce this impact is by regionalising the calendar to reduce long-haul flights and constant movement. To an extent this has been successful, but not entirely. Going from Azerbaijan to Miami then to Italy doesn’t seem like the greenest way of doing it. The issue is that many tracks don’t want to change the dates from what they have always been, wanting instead to keep traditions. But really, what is more important, traditions or our planet?
I did some work experience over the summer at Formula 1, and I asked a fair share of people about their opinions on whether F1 can be sustainable (to the point where most people looked a bit fed up of me). Most were very definitive that their sustainability plan would work and had no trouble in
explaining it to me, as well as some of the initiatives they had planned. However, a few were not so confident. I spoke to Charlie Minors, the Director of Strategy at F1 who told me that he had worked on some sustainability initiatives and although they had an impact, he said he was unsure whether the sport could ‘really be true Formula One if it was 100% sustainable’.
Despite their initiatives, F1 is unavoidably bad for the environment – there is no trying to hide that. This only brings the question of whether, whilst still maintaining the core traditions and essence of the sport, can it ever truly be sustainable?
