Sports News | Green Lights and Red Flags in Formula 1's Sustainability Drive
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Formula 1 aims to go net zero by 2030, but some issues are holding the sport back from a full speed commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.
Istanbul, Jan 18 (360info) Formula 1 aims to go net zero by 2030, but some issues are holding the sport back from a full speed commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.
Formula 1 is trying to go green, but it may need to hit the accelerator and speed up to achieve its ambitious goal of net zero by 2030.
The most powerful player in determining the environmental future of motorsport remains the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of many auto-racing competitions, including Formula 1.
Since 2009, the FIA's Institute of Motor Sport Safety has assumed responsibility for making racing more environmentally sustainable. Under that direction, the FIA helped fund climate initiatives such as the Clean Air Fund and oversaw Formula E, an electric-powered sibling championship to Formula 1 launched in 2024, and which was recognised for its event sustainability with an ISO 20121 certification.
Formula E is a glimpse at what the future might look like, on and off track. In addition to the racing being cleaner for the environment, the race day experience has been a testing ground for other sustainability initiatives.
During the 2020 Formula E season, spectators were given water pouches in place of single-use plastic bottles, a measure which the FIA says saved the equivalent of over 200,000 bottles from being thrown away.
But Formula E can't be the only hope. It will likely take a long time to bridge the gap in popularity between it and Formula 1, if ever.
Formula 1 is headlined by motorsport icons like Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc. The Formula E field is largely made up of one-time F1 washouts or talented drivers who are unlikely to reach the pinnacle of open-wheel racing.
It remains a priority for the FIA that Formula 1 also finds ways to improve its sustainability metrics.
The latest car regulations are a positive step. Starting in 2022, Formula 1 cars run on E-10 gasoline, a mixture of 90 per cent fossil fuel and 10 percent ethanol. With that change, F1 says the cars themselves make up only 0.7 per cent of Formula 1's car footprint, bringing the sport very close to one component of its 2030 net zero target.
But despite the strides made, challenges persist for Formula 1 to complete its net zero quest before the end of the decade. The sport has a big carbon footprint: its cars still run on fossil fuels, each Grand Prix is high on noise pollution and the surrounding infrastructure required to set up and maintain its lucrative racetracks often come at the expense of surrounding ecology.
A Grand Prix weekend is environmentally taxing in many ways. The energy consumption to power a circuit, especially during night races, results in an overuse of power plants.
Spectator litter, exacerbated by loose environmental regulations (such as allowing plastics, not using eco-friendly packaging on merchandise and food) also means that Formula 1 leaves a pile of landfill in its wake everywhere. Racing gear that is thrown out could be recycled or made to be renewable.
Formula 1 weekends are very noisy, which is especially an issue for street circuits in cities such as Baku, Monaco, Melbourne and Las Vegas that host races in high-density areas. A Formula 1 car can reach up to 140 decibels, a level which can result in irreversible hearing loss, raising a red flag for residents near the track. Street circuits also disrupt a city's typical traffic patterns, as roads are closed in the lead-up to and during the three days of a race weekend.
The logistics side of Formula 1 is among the sport's most extraordinary features. An incredible amount of work and ingenuity goes into making each Grand Prix happen: machinery, infrastructure and personnel are shifted country to country over 20 weekends in a calendar year, sometimes crossing continents in less than a week.
However,
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)