Mercedes continue to pioneer first-rate sustainability initiatives

Mercedes’ third annual Sustainability Report has been released, detailing the team’s impressive commitments and investments in pioneering change through industry-leading sustainability initiatives.  

Guided by the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) structure in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Mercedes continue to drive towards low-carbon high performance.  

The global scale of Formula 1 means the Brackley-based team have been working to understand the environmental impact of their worldwide activities and the role they can play in driving change. A significant part of this was a refinery investment into Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), supporting the growth of the market. Since, Mercedes have seen a 21% reduction in overall air travel emissions, saving 2,628 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.  

In 2022, Mercedes became the first professional sports team to invest in SAF. The investment is part of their ambition to become Science Based Targets initiative-verified Net Zero by 2030 and their commitment to ensuring they are at the cutting-edge of innovation in sustainable technologies.  

The team is on track to meet their targets of achieving Net Zero in 2030 and reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 100% and seeing a 50% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2026.  

Focusing on the ‘Social’ SDG, Mercedes have been continuing to encourage further diversity within both the team and the wider sport. The Sustainability Report details their commitment to building an even more diverse and inclusive workforce through Accelerate 25, a five-year programme of action. 

Launched in December 2020, the programme has been running for over 30 months with impressive progress. Its achievements include 37% of new team members joining from under-represented groups in the first six months of 2023, as well as female team members rising to 16.6% (up from 11% in 2019), whilst team members from minority ethnic backgrounds have increased from 3% in 2019 to 8.9% as of June 2023. 

Hiran Odedra, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, commented, “Creating a working environment where all of our team members continue to feel valued, respected and able to be their authentic self in their workplace is so important to driving forward performance. We will also continue to focus on our goal to attract and recruit from the widest pool of high-performing and diverse talent, leading us to greater performance.” 

Mercedes are continuously seeking to improve the robustness of their governance practices. During the first half of 2023, the improvements actioned to governance processes included the launch of a new Governance, Ethics and Compliance framework, the launch of a new whistleblowing tool, and the publication of bespoke Integrity Code, Human Rights Policy, Environmental Policy and Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy.  

To summarise the report, Toto Wolff concluded: “We will continue to invest in initiatives that will help us become more sustainable and, as a team, we know it’s vital that we approach this challenge in the same way as we approach everything: as a race to the finish line. Our aim is to always raise our standards and set the benchmarks within our sport and outside it.  

“I’m incredibly proud of our team and the work being implemented to meet our ambitions and to better understand our impact on the world. There’s still so much more that we want to achieve, and we’re committed to delivering innovative initiatives to meet our goals in 2023 and beyond. The race is on.”