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Racing towards sustainability

November 22 - November 28, 2023
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Gulf Weekly Racing towards sustainability

Formula E, the world’s first net zero carbon sport since inception, will mark the beginning of its milestone 10th season by attending the United Nations’ COP28 summit and calling on elite sport leaders to “give it everything” in their sustainability efforts.

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. The COP28 summit is being held in Dubai from November 30 until December 12. It is the 28th annual United Nations climate meeting where governments will discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change.

Jeff Dodds, CEO, Formula E, said: “Elite sport reaches a global audience of billions every week. 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’.”

Formula E was conceived in 2011 by businessman Alejandro Agag (now Formula E founder and 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.

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 per cent of the energy used by a GEN3 in a race comes from regenerative braking.

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.

Season 10 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship begins on January 13, 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.







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