Mercedes’ Formula 1 team has pledged to spend millions of euros on so-called sustainable aviation fuels, as it seeks to address growing criticism of the global sport’s large carbon footprint.
The paddock’s most successful constructor over the past decade said it would partner with an energy company to invest more than €4mn in refineries for the production of waste-derived fuels, in an attempt to reduce the environmental cost of motor racing on several continents.
“I fly a lot; the team flies a lot. If we must fly, then we need to find a better way to do so and SAF is the best solution available to the aviation industry right now,” said Mercedes’ F1 team principal and chief executive officer, Toto Wolff.
Mercedes declined to name the group involved. The team is sponsored by Malaysia’s state energy company Petronas, which has recently supplied SAF to passenger airlines.
Last year, Mercedes F1 calculated that it was responsible for emitting at least 8,136 tonnes of CO₂ per season, a 60 per cent reduction on the equivalent figure in 2018, but still roughly equalizing the emissions created by heating 3,000 homes for a year. About 40 per cent of the team’s emissions stemmed from flying more than 100 personnel to each race.
The sport as a whole has a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2030, and will introduce new rules from 2026 that will further reduce its cars’ reliance on fossil fuels. However, tailpipe emissions from racing cars already account for less than 1 per cent of F1’s total footprint, the bulk of which is caused by flying freight and passengers around the world.
Airlines and logistics companies are increasingly pinning their hopes on SAF — which the aviation industry claims reduces CO₂ emissions by up to 80 per cent — to help them achieve net zero targets by 2050. However, about 450bn liters of SAF will be required annually by that date, according to trade body Iata, and just 100mn liters were produced last year.
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Mercedes’ commitment comes just weeks after campaigners from a group called Just Stop Oil risked death by invading the track at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix, calling for an immediate halt to new oil and gas projects in the UK.
Their methods were roundly criticized as dangerous by F1 bosses, but Mercedes driver and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said he supported the cause.
“I love that people are fighting for the planet and we need more people like them,” he said soon after the race. Another former world champion, Sebastian Vettel, has campaigned on environmental matters, and caused controversy earlier this year by donning a T-shirt at the Miami Grand Prix which read: “Miami 2060 — first grand prix underwater — Act Now or Swim Later”.
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