Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has announced that it has been certified by Carbon Neutral Investments (CNI) as 100% carbon neutral, and in doing so, becomes the world’s first carbon neutral Formula 1 team.
In achieving this long-held ambition, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has worked alongside CNI to select appropriate and relevant initiatives to offset the team’s carbon footprint.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said: “Today’s announcement is the strongest possible proof that we’ve gone farther than any other Formula 1 team in becoming more environmentally sympathetic and efficient – an achievement that’s of great importance not only to our organisation but to all our partners too.”
He added: “This is a considerable achievement: the result of a lot of hard work by a number of extremely dedicated individuals, and a testament to our philosophy of continuous improvement.”
In addition to carbon offsetting with CNI, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has implemented a series of efficiency-driven measures to reduce CO2 emissions ‘at source’ within the McLaren Technology Centre – where annual savings of more than 1500 tonnes of CO2 emissions have been achieved.
CNI co-chairman, James Brown, said: “Vodafone McLaren Mercedes leads the way across F1, and certainly does so in terms of environmental initiatives: the first F1 team to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard, recognition by the Government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme and a whole host of initiatives at the McLaren Technology Centre. In working with us at CNI, the team has closed the gap between being carbon efficient and carbon neutral.”
He added: “Allowing companies to improve on their carbon efficiency measures and realise carbon neutrality is what we do, and have done across motorsport and the automotive industry. We hope other teams in F1 will now follow Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ lead.”