London, 7 December 2011 – Carbon Neutral Investments (CNI), one of the world’s fastest growing providers in the voluntary carbon offset market, has completed a pioneering new deal with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has selected CNI to offset the team’s CO2 emissions, and in doing so, becomes the world’s first carbon neutral Formula 1 team.
The carbon offsetting projects selected by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes with CNI provide a perfect fit with the team’s core business ideology and ethics. Two hydroelectric initiatives in India and Brazil have been selected, chosen for their prominence on the current Formula 1 landscape and also their employment of technical solutions that bring considerable value to local communities.
This adds to several other ‘firsts’ achieved by CNI in corporate social and environmental responsibility this year. Already in 2011, CNI has worked with Linley Swan Offshore Racing, making it the world’s only carbon neutral powerboat team – another world first.
In addition, CNI is working across the automotive sector, and this week was announced as the carbon offset partner for the What Car? Car of the Year Awards 2012 and category sponsor for the SUV of the Year award.
CNI co-chairman, James Brown, said: “CNI’s unique offering is the ability to simply and credibly close the gap between being carbon efficient and actually becoming carbon neutral. This is not a mantle exclusive to low emissions businesses – we actively engage carbon intensive companies and industries, because this is where we can make the most impact and deliver best results.”
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said: “This announcement is the strongest possible proof that we’ve gone further than any other Formula 1 team in becoming more environmentally sympathetic and efficient – an achievement that’s of great importance not only to our organisation but to all our partners too.”
He added: “This is a considerable achievement: the result of a lot of hard work by a number of extremely dedicated individuals, and a testament to our philosophy of continuous improvement.”
In addition to carbon offsetting with CNI, the team has implemented a series of efficiency-driven measures to reduce CO2 emissions ‘at source’ in the McLaren Technology Centre – where annual savings of more than 1500 tonnes of CO2 emissions have been achieved.
CNI co-chairman, James Brown, added: “We hope other teams in F1 will now follow Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ lead in pioneering a new dawn of carbon neutrality in motorsport.”
