Formula 1’s push towards net zero is increasingly being shaped not only by what happens on track, but by the far larger challenge of moving people, parts and equipment around the world. According to Formula 1, the sport has cut its carbon footprint by 35% against its 2018 baseline and says it remains on course for net zero by 2030, even as the calendar has expanded from 21 to 24 races and annual attendance has risen from 4 million to 6.5 million.
That progress matters because...
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freight, logistics, broadcast operations and race-week activity sit at the heart of the sport’s environmental impact. Formula 1’s first Impact Report, published after the 2022 season, recorded a 13% reduction versus 2018, while the latest figures show further gains as the championship works with teams, promoters, partners and the FIA to reduce emissions across its supply chain.
The most visible changes have come in transport. Formula 1 said DHL’s biofuel-powered truck fleet cut emissions by an average of 83% during the European leg of the 2023 season, while carrying an average 300 tonnes of freight per race. The championship has also made its first investment in sustainable aviation fuel, covering around 20% of air cargo flights for the 2024 season and delivering an estimated 80% reduction in associated emissions per flight.
Those sport-wide measures mirror what individual teams are now doing. Mercedes has set out its latest sustainability progress in a report covering 2023, while Aston Martin Aramco, Alpine, McLaren Racing, Williams Racing and Oracle Red Bull Racing are increasingly treating carbon measurement as an operational discipline rather than a communications exercise. Their reporting shows that Scope 3 emissions, including suppliers, freight and business travel, account for the overwhelming majority of their footprints.
Aston Martin Aramco’s 2024 Sustainability Report put its total footprint at about 88,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, with more than 99% in Scope 3. Alpine reported a 2024 baseline of roughly 35,000 tonnes, again with Scope 3 dominating. McLaren has linked its decarbonisation work directly to road freight and aviation, saying it cut Formula 1 road-freight emissions by 48% in 2024 after switching to biofuel and investing in SAF. Mercedes, meanwhile, has used SAF and hydrotreated vegetable oil to address mobility-related emissions while broadening its focus to supply chain impacts.
A clear pattern is emerging: better measurement is becoming as important as cleaner fuel. Teams are moving away from expenditure-based estimates and towards activity-based data that tracks what was moved, how far, by what means and, where possible, with what fuel. That shift makes logistics less of a blind spot and more of a management tool. It also explains why sustainability roles inside the sport are multiplying, with teams recruiting for data, procurement and supplier-engagement expertise. In Formula 1, carbon accounting is beginning to look a lot like competitive operations: precise, iterative and relentlessly data-driven.
Source: Noah Wire Services
