Envision Racing, the leading British Formula E race team, has revealed that it has successfully reached the milestone of over 150,000 climate positive pledges submitted as part of the Race Against Climate Change™ (RACC) initiative.
Envision Racing, known as the ‘greenest team on the greenest grid’, launched the consumer-facing part of RACC, called the Sustainable Chain, to empower its fans and their communities to make green pledges and drive climate action in the wake of the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
A major player in Formula E, Formula One’s electric counterpart, Envision Racing is planting a mangrove tree in Madagascar – through its tree planting partner Earthly and Eden Reforestation Projects – for every pledge made.
To date, there’s been both 150,000 pledges and planted trees. In total, fans’ actions have saved over 38 million kilograms of dangerous carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere.
The Sustainable Chain campaign tasks fans with taking one of ten pledges to help save the planet. Via Envision Racing’s website, fans calculate their carbon footprint and then watch it diminish as they introduce green lifestyle changes. These include:
- Swapping to an electric vehicle
- Commuting by bike or public transport to work
- Sourcing local food
- Switching to a renewable energy supplier
- Making energy efficiency improvements at home
- Flying less
- Installing solar panels
- Reducing meat consumption
- Cutting down on water usage and producing less waste
With an aim of inspiring one million pledges from individuals across the world, the scheme was launched in partnership with American teen actor Aidan Gallagher – star of Netflix’s Umbrella Academy series and a United Nations Environment Programme ambassador. He worked in tandem with the Envision Racing team to inspire climate action among his 25 million social media fans.
“We have ambitious plans for the future of the Sustainable Chain campaign, with new celebrity ambassadors and media partners lined up to help us reach our target of one million climate pledges,” says electric racing pioneer Sylvain Filippi, Managing Director of Envision Racing.
“At Envision Racing, we exist to energise the Race Against Climate Change, by creating experiences that accelerate the transition to clean, secure and affordable renewable energy. On and off the track, we raise awareness of the benefits of electric vehicles, but we also work to connect our fans with environmental issues and provide them with information on tangible actions that can drive real change.
“While the impact of this campaign is focused on enabling our fans and wider audiences to reduce their environmental footprint, it is closely aligned with our overarching aspiration for Envision Racing to be ‘the greenest team on the greenest grid’ and our efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our operations and maintain our carbon neutral status.”
Envision Racing was the first team in Formula E to be certified carbon neutral by the Carbon Trust in 2020. It is one of a handful of teams to have achieved three-star sustainability accreditation from motorsport’s global governing body, the FIA – an accreditation that was recently confirmed as having been successfully renewed.
The status recognises that the team retains the highest level of commitment to the environmental and sustainability goals set out by the governing body.
