Formula 1 is to take steps to promote its support for a greener planet in the coming months – to coincide with the sport starting to promote synthetic fuel, in an attempt to meet pre-existing sustainability targets.
The sport’s CEO, Chase Carey, has revealed that a PR campaign is to be launched that will put emphasis on the efficiency of the current engines.
There is also a specific aim to reduce carbon emissions through the use of synthetic fuels, which is currently being discussed with teams and current suppliers.
The move can be seen as a response to the inroads the all-electric series Formula E has already made promoting sustainability.
During a phone conversation with Wall Street analysts, Carey said: “One of our priorities, and we are going to do more in the fall, is really an untold story in F1. It’s the strides that we’ve made to date in terms of sustainability.”
“The hybrid engine that was launched a few years ago was an incredible step forward in terms of fuel efficiency, while retaining power. And we are working aggressively on things like synthetic fuels, working with the oil industry as a whole on synthetic fuels, bio fuels, hydrogen fuels.
“And I think you’ll see between now and year end the sustainability issue becoming much more front and centre.”
Carey added that sustainability is becoming an integral part of the story of Formula 1, and will be the start of people considering how emissions from a combustion engine will be reduced.
“It’s part of our story, and actually something we’ve talked with in private with a number of our partners, and they’re quite excited about it.
“And I think it’s an honest recognition that the environmental issue is important to everybody, and a big part of making strides forward in that is how do you reduce carbon emissions from the combustion engine? That can be as important as anything out there,” Carey admitted.
