X44 will have a title sponsor for the first time INT the form of Vida Carbon, branding the team X44 Vida Carbon Racing beginning with the upcoming Extreme E round in Antofagasta on 24/25 September.
Vida Carbon is a Canadian investment firm specialising in carbon credit, which is a permit for a given party to emit a certain amount of carbon (a single carbon credit is worth a tonne of greenhouse gas). The company currently oversees four carbon credit projects like providing high efficiency stoves in Ghana and India, REDD+ (“Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation”) conservation in the Amazon, and improving rice farming irrigation in Telangana.
“Around the world, we are all feeling the direct impacts of climate change,” said Vida Carbon executive chairman Jamie Keech. “Traditional motorsports have long been associated with having a negative impact on the environment, and though many series are taking encouraging steps towards a more sustainable future, Extreme E is unique in the way it approaches this issue. Our partnership with X44 is proof that sustainable practices and a net zero future are possible. Vida Carbon and X44 are working towards that future.”
The team first partnered with Vida Carbon at the Island X Prix in Sardinia in July, where the company’s name appeared on the windshield banner as part of a redesigned livery. With Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez piloting the #44, X44 finished sixth and second in the doubleheader’s two classifications.
While it is to be expected that a business keen on environmental improvement would want to invest into a series like Extreme E, X44 owner Lewis Hamilton has also been a champion of such causes.
“We are very pleased to have Vida Carbon alongside us as we continue our journey in Extreme E,” commented Loeb. “Although there’s nothing we love more than a first place podium, our team is about so much more than just racing. X44 Vida Carbon Racing’s goal is to encourage our fans to take small steps together to have a positive impact on the planet, and a partner like Vida Carbon means we can do just that.”
The team, who finished runner-up in the 2021 championship, is the third to pick up new naming rights during the 2022 season after GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing and NEOM McLaren XE.
