The environmental protection organization Greenpeace has criticized the sustainability projects of Formula 1 and accused the premier class of motorsport of greenwashing.
“Formula 1 sees that it has to act on climate protection, but it only does so superficially. If Formula 1 doesn’t just want to use sustainability as a fig leaf, it has to rethink the carbon footprint of the entire racing circuit. It should be more regionalized, instead of holding 24 races and flying masses of people and material around the world, as in the coming year,” said Benjamin Stephan, traffic expert Greenpeace, the German press agency before the start of Formula 1 in the rest of the season this weekend in the Netherlands.
Greenpeace: “Then Formula 1 doesn’t mean it seriously”
The racing series wants to be climate-neutral by 2030. To this end, synthetic CO2-neutral fuel is to be used from 2026 onwards. At the same time, the racing calendar keeps expanding. In 2024, the record number of 24 Grand Prix should be held.
“If Formula 1 does not fundamentally reposition itself and accept that the identity of the racing series has to change, then it is not serious about climate protection. Formula 1 technologies that don’t get us any further in the mobility revolution send the wrong message. So far, the Formula 1 projects have only been of a cosmetic nature for me and are not much more than greenwashing,” said Greenpeace spokesman Stephan. Greenwashing is essentially understood as a fraudulent labeling with sustainability goals.
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“In the past, one argument used by Formula 1 and the manufacturers was always to develop new technologies that would later find their way into production cars and ultimately benefit everyone. However, the car industry is now developing almost exclusively in the direction of e-mobility. Combustion engines, even if they were to become a bit more efficient in Formula 1, are outdated,” said Stephan.
“Although Formula 1 wants to use synthetic fuels in the future and also uses biofuels, these are not a solution because they are inefficient and too expensive. Biofuels cannot be produced sustainably in the necessary quantities, so they are not suitable for mass production. At the latest in the current transformation, Formula 1 is decoupling itself from the rest of the world because it cannot part with the outdated combustion engine.”
