Just ahead of the 2026 F1 season opener, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS has announced what may be motorsport’s most comprehensive carbon removal investment to date: 7 new CDR projects across 6 different technology pathways, bringing the team’s total portfolio to approximately 18,900 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
The technologies span the full CDR spectrum:
- Direct Air Capture (DAC)
- Biochar
- Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW)
- Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE)
- Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)
- Biomass Storage
Projects are located across Brazil, Canada, the US, the UK, Denmark, and India — deliberately overlapping with regions where the F1 circus races.
Why This Is Significant
At 18,900 tonnes, this isn’t offsetting greenwash. It’s a serious commitment to durable carbon removal — the kind measured in centuries, not growing seasons. The portfolio is curated by CUR8, which evaluates and verifies each project for delivery reliability.
Alice Ashpitel, Head of Sustainability at Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS, put it clearly during Economist Impact’s Sustainability Week: “Emissions reduction remains our priority, and high-quality carbon removals are essential for tackling the residual emissions that remain.”
The team isn’t trying to offset its way to net zero. It’s reducing first, then using carbon removal for the residual — which is exactly how serious climate strategies should work.
The CDR Market Signal
When a global sports brand invests across six different CDR pathways simultaneously, that’s a portfolio strategy, not a PR stunt. It diversifies technology risk while channeling capital to early-stage projects that need demand signals to scale.
Mercedes’s partners — Signify, UBS, and Nasdaq — are watching. And the explicit name-drop of Microsoft and Meta AI as “industry leaders” in CDR procurement suggests the F1 team sees itself in that league.
For the CDR industry, corporate buyers like Mercedes help bridge the gap between laboratory promise and commercial reality. Every multi-year purchase agreement de-risks the next one.
And for F1 fans: the cars may run on newly approved sustainable fuel, but the team’s climate strategy extends well beyond the tailpipe.
Source: Carbon Herald — The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team Expands Its Global CDR Portfolio · Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS official announcement