Formula 1’s latest sustainability solutions for European leg of 2025 explained

A total of 37 biofueled DHL trucks will deliver freight for the European events, a renewable and centralised energy system will power the pit and paddock areas, plus F2 and F3 will continue to race on lower-carbon fuels via its partnership with Aramco, ahead of F1’s switch to fuels that meet FIA’s sustainability criteria in 2026.

That renewable and centralised energy system aims to deliver what F1 claims to be an approximate 90% reduction in associated carbon emissions, having been successfully trialled at the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix and 2024 Austrian, Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix.

It will be used in nine European races this season, having started with the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on May 18.

F1 partner Aggreko will deliver a paddock-wise solution that is designed to centralise energy supply into one compound powered by renewable sources like hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), solar panels and battery energy storage systems (BESS), removing the need for F1, the FIA and all 10 F1 teams to all individually power themselves via their own generators.

That’s been proven to reduce carbon emissions and, because it’s centralised, rather than spread across the teams and series, there are reduced transport-associated emissions too, contributing to F1’s claimed 90% reduction in such emissions.

There’s been important buy-in from all the teams too.

“I think the results kind of speak for themselves. They're part of it. They're in it, which is really critical because when you look at the energy on track, that's your race operations. That's what's happening in the motorhome. That's what's happening in the garages on the pits,” head of Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) at Formula 1, Ellen Jones told Raceteq.

“So it's critical to our operations, but it also means that the teams are bought into how do we do something differently? How do we do it in a more sustainable way? 

“And having all 10 teams and the FIA participate means that we can just do that much more. It's not just a solution for one, but it's a solution for all and therefore you're able to make these jumps rather than a few of us making a 10% change.

“All of us together are making over a 90% change and that's really exciting.”

F1 sees Europe as a “great starting point” for the generator solution because of the infrastructure similarities across the European races, but there are plenty of sustainability initiatives for the non-European races too.

“Over 80% of our [race] promoters are already powering some aspect of their event by renewable energy and that's globally,” Jones added.

DHL will once again transport freight across F1’s European season. F1 claims that DHL’s biofuel-powered trucks led to an average reduction of logistics-related emissions by 83% in comparison to trucks using traditional fuels in 2023. 

DHL’s biofueled truck fleet and F1’s renewable and centralised energy system are all part of F1’s push to be net zero by 2030.

For F1, it’s all about looking at every component of an F1 season, looking past convention and reassessing where the sport can be more sustainable.

“Really, when you think about F1 on track, it's always about constant improvement. How do we look at everything we do to make sure that we can get that much better, that much faster and the same thing applies the same rigour when you talk about sustainability [initiatives],” Jones explained.

“How do we look across our operations to say what can we do differently and how can technology get us there faster?”

F1’s communication of its sustainability progress to its growing fanbase is important too.

“Sport is a great connector. It's a real way to get people interested, to make sure that people care. And when we talk about the sustainability solutions, not just our goals, but what are the actions we're taking, usually people are surprised. They're like ‘gosh, I didn't know that. I didn't know that about F1, but I also didn't know that was possible’,” Jones added.

In 2024, F1 invested in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), and F1 claims it delivered an estimated 80% reduction in associated carbon emissions per flight compared to traditional aviation fuel.

In 2026, F1 will follow its feeder series F2 and F3 in switching to fuel that meets FIA’s sustainability criteria, after F2 and F3 moved to lower carbon fuel blend supplied by Aramco at the start of this season, having already transitioned to 55% sustainable fuels (as defined by FIA) last year.