Motorsport emissions, 2025: two reports, two boundaries
Every later number in this briefing depends on what was counted, so the argument starts with the boundary. The two series publish totals that do not compare directly, because each draws its boundary in a different place, and any comparison by a fan, a sponsor or a host city starts with where each one stops. The question for this sector is what each series counts, and what it leaves out.
Formula 1 reported 148,805 tCO₂e for 2025 across 24 events, 35% below its 2018 baseline of 228,793 t. S1 Travel was 39% (57,934 t), logistics 33% (48,400 t), factories and facilities 14% (20,923 t) and event operations 14% (21,548 t). The power units were under 1%. S1
The total is market-based and includes sustainable aviation fuel certificates, so part of the reduction is purchased rather than avoided at source. S1 That is a choice of method rather than a criticism. Every corporate inventory picks a basis, and the basis shapes the headline.
Formula E measures differently. It has run a life-cycle assessment with Quantis since its first season, and its Season 5 study counted freight (72%), staff travel (14%), spectators (6%), food (4%), operations (4%) and building the cars (1%), as published and rounded. S4 It reports emissions per race falling from 3,461 t in Season 5 to 2,112 t in 2022, a 39% fall that we calculate from those two figures. C1 It says it has been net zero from day one, certified in line with the UN Climate Neutral Now framework, which relies on offsets for the residual. Formula E publishes no absolute season total that we could find, so its per-race figures cannot be set directly against F1's annual total.
Set side by side, the two reports cut against a common assumption. In our view, the series with the cleaner reputation draws the wider boundary: it counts its fans and the manufacture of its cars. The series with the bigger number draws the narrower one: F1's categories have no line for the people who fly in. Greenly estimates fans' travel, stays and food at 827,128 t a year, about 34,500 t per race across 24 races. C2 Greenly's total of 875,767 t is around five times F1's reported 2024 total of 168,720 t, and Greenly calls its method conservative and directional. That estimate sits in neither series' published number.
F1's footprint by category, then, now and next
Formula 1
Absolute total, market-based, category split, SAF certificates included. No spectator line.
Formula E
Life-cycle per race, spectators and car build included. No absolute season total found. Net zero claimed via offsets.
A transition is measured against a baseline, and the baseline depends on where the boundary is drawn. For an investor, sponsor or host city, the first question about any emissions number is what it was drawn around, before how big it is.
Next: sort ten sources of race-weekend emissions onto the series whose boundary counts them. Once the boundary is fixed, the next question is what the cars and the grid behind them depend on.