We believe that a truly sustainable motorsport network can only be built if all stakeholders place carbon reduction and carbon removal strategies on their portfolio of priorities.
Best practice advises us that main industry focus should be working on continuous carbon reduction with an ultimate goal of achieving carbon zero activities. When it comes to the carbon emissions which cannot be avoided at present, investing in carbon credits, by supporting independently audited and verified programmes which fight climate change, is a good starting point on the sustainability roadmap.
In that spirit and conscious an immediate action is required, we have created our Road to carbon neutrality competitor programme, for our most important stakeholder - our competitors. The programme enables competitors to join us right at the start of our sustainable journey and offset their carbon emissions associated to our championships in the 2021 season.
Using data from our global carbon footprint report, we have calculated an average competitor footprint value per Series, which includes race related competitor employee travel, competitor logistics and competitor event operations. Our road to carbon neutrality programme takes in account these averages to calculate the carbon credit value of carbon neutral competitor participation.
Carbon credits purchased by competitors will be invested in the forest conservation project in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, SRO is supporting, implemented by tropical forest protection and restoration specialist Permian Global and its partners.
Investing in our carbon credit programme means supporting a vital endangered eco system, empowering local communities and building sustainable innovation, resulting in a holistic approach in the global battle against climate change.
The offsetting programme is well accredited, supported and verified by leading carbon standard programmes (Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS); Climate, Community and Biodiversity Triple Gold (CCB) standard) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, it is subjected to additional annual monitoring by third party independent monitors.
We are proud to launch our carbon neutral competitor fleet, which supports a programme that:
- Generates an average 7.5 million triple gold certified carbon credits annually; equivalent to taking 2.000.000 cars off the road each year;
- Protects large forest area (approximately the size of Greater London) from industrial conversion, preventing the release of 447 million tonnes of CO2e over 60 years, making it the world’s largest forest-based avoided emissions project, with a total climate impact equivalent to the annual emissions of France;
- Protects a biodiversity hotspot, which includes conservation of 5 Critically Endangered, 8 Endangered and 31 Vulnerable species;
- Empowers 34 local communities, with a population of around 45.000 people, and planting a culture of sustainable innovation;
- Improves local community access to healthcare, health education and women and children’s health;