By Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – McLaren Racing has signed a deal with Brazilian startup Mombak to purchase carbon removal credits from reforestation projects in the Amazon rainforest as part of its bid to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, the companies said on Thursday.
McLaren competes in Formula One and the IndyCar Series, with emissions coming – in addition to motor racing itself – from activities such as air travel.
Formula One has 24 races in 22 different countries scheduled for next year.
Under their deal, Mombak said it would deliver McLaren removals from 2023 through 2025 at an average price of more than $50 per metric ton, a premium over the traditional carbon credit market.
Carbon credits are tradable permits that allow the owner to emit certain amounts of greenhouse gases, with each credit permitting the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide.
“Carbon credits above $50 are the big news,” Mombak co-founder Peter Fernandez said in an interview. “That’s a new level. In Brazil some people still think carbon credits are worth $5, $10, $15 – that’s no longer true.”
McLaren has the goal of reducing its emissions by 90% by 2040. For the remaining 10%, it would implement initiatives such as carbon offsetting.
“A big part of that is making sure that we reduce emissions across all our operations and supply chain,” the team’s director of sustainability Kim Wilson said of the 2040 net zero goal.
“But we know that’s not enough. We also have to do something about the existing carbon in the earth’s atmosphere.”
Mombak is backed by investors such as Bain Capital and AXA and recently raised a $100 million fund to build carbon removal projects in the Amazon, with money from Canada’s CPPIB and the Rockefeller Foundation.
It buys degraded land from farmers and ranchers or partners with them to replant native species in the world’s largest rainforest.
Critics of carbon offset markets, including Greenpeace, say they allow emitters to continue to release greenhouse gases.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Toby Davis)
