A delegation representing the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, its teams, and partners, will be at COP28 to showcase how high-performance sport and sustainability can exist together without compromise.
FORMULA E: Net zero since day zero
“Elite sport reaches a global audience of billions every week,” says Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds. “Athletes are among the most-followed and influential people on the planet. Collectively, we have the potential to make positive changes for a more sustainable future and encourage fans to do the same. To use popular football manager parlance, we need to ‘give it everything’.”
Leading from the front
Formula E was conceived in 2011 by businessman Alejandro Agag (now Formula E Founder & Chairman) and the FIA as the first all-electric single-seater motor racing championship, with the explicit mission of showcasing sustainable mobility in the heart of iconic world cities.
READ MORE: How Formula E achieves net zero
The first race was held on the streets of Beijing in September 2014. Today, nine seasons and 116 races later, Formula E is the first FIA-sanctioned electric world championship and established as the world’s most sustainable sport.
Last season, Formula E and the FIA developed and introduced the GEN3 race car – the fastest, lightest, most powerful, efficient and sustainable electric race car ever built – capable of 200mph / 322km/h and regenerating 600kW of energy.
When the GEN3 races in Shanghai for the first time next season, it will be 75 per cent more powerful and 95 km/h faster than the first-generation car that took to the streets of Beijing. One of the most significant technological developments is 50% of the energy used by a GEN3 in a race comes from regenerative braking.
Zero compromise
Demonstrating that sustainability in sport does not mean a compromise on quality of action, Formula E’s drivers pushed the GEN3 to the limit last season, breaking every on-track speed and sporting record with triple-digit overtakes in the majority of races.
Manufacturers in the series include Jaguar, Porsche, Nissan, Mahindra, Maserati, DS Automobiles and ERT. The championship creates an intensive test bed environment for the 11 teams, and partners, to innovate EV technologies, which are increasingly making the ‘race to road’ transfer into electric cars on the streets.
READ MORE: Formula E’s sustainability drive
The Formula E delegation attending COP28 will comprise of teams and partners including ABB, DHL, UNICEF, NEOM McLaren Formula E Racing Team, Envision Racing Formula E Team and others, using thought leadership sessions to highlight the bespoke benefits such as technology development and learnings they draw from the global series.
In 2020 Formula E became the first sport in the world to have its emissions reductions targets validated by the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi). It is on track to achieve its 45% reduction target by 2030 target across Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
Season 10 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship begins on Saturday, 13 January 2024, in Mexico City. The series will then race in Diriyah, Hyderabad, São Paulo, Tokyo, a venue in Italy to be announced, Monaco, Berlin, Shanghai, Portland and London.
The COP28 summit is being held in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 30 November until 12 December 2023. It is the 28th annual United Nations climate meeting where governments will discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change.