F1 on track to hit its Net Zero target by 2030

Formula 1 says it is on track to hit its Net Zero targets by 2030 after the publication of its latest impact report that includes its carbon emissions.

The report currently includes figures from 2022 as F1 needs to await data from teams and other stakeholders from last year, but the first season that was not impacted by COVID-19 showed a 13 percent reduction in F1’s carbon footprint compared to the 2018 baseline. That’s despite the 2022 calendar featuring an extra race compared to prior to the pandemic.

The sport’s Net Zero target is a minimum of 50 percent emissions reduction versus 2018, leaving 37 percent still to be achieved by 2030.

Key to accelerating that reduction are sustainable fuels – notably Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and biofuels for road and sea freight – and the paddock’s energy usage, with F1’s head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) Ellen Jones explaining how those avenues will lead to increasingly impactful steps.

“We’re on-track if you look at linear reduction to 2030,” Jones said. “Now we all know life doesn’t work in a linear way, but we definitely are on-track to hit that target goal. The key parts of that that we’re going to see in future are really the outcomes of the trials and work [being done now]. So it is the continued uptake of alternative fuels across all part of our operations, from the car to the air to also the generators on-site.

“It is also that shared impact of bringing others on the journey with us. So it’s one thing to have all 10 teams having a different solution when they are in the paddock, it’s a much bigger saving when you have a centralized solution that people can work towards together.