How EY Helps Extreme E Racing to be ‘Sustainable Beacon’

EY’s partnership with racing series Extreme E is paying off, with its second sustainability report revealing its season finale was 100% powered by renewables.

Extreme E has also maintained its carbon-neutral status, with all 8,301 tonnes of its CO2 offset by buying Verified Carbon Standard environmental certificates for two deforestation programmes in Brazil’s Amazon.

Throughout Season 3, Extreme E collaborated with EY to develop a comprehensive Outcome Measurement Framework (OMF) for Extreme E’s Legacy Programme partners.

EY held interviews with Legacy Programme partners to obtain data that informed the OMFs for each programme, improving data collection processes and empowering organisations to develop reporting procedures that are contextually relevant to programme objectives.

Accelerating towards no-carbon racing?

Extreme E is a racing series that features a gender-equal team structure and aims to draw up the blueprint for ‘green sporting and entertainment events on a global scale’.

It maintained the carbon-neutral status it established from the outset and continued to race electric vehicles only. 

It also:

• Achieved an 8.2% decrease in overall carbon footprint across Season 3
• Closed the gender equality gap by 26%
• Refurbished the St Helena (the ship that transports the vehicles from race to race) to boost its energy efficiency 
• Increased the energy output produced from green hydrogen fuel through a new ENOWA Hydrogen Fuel Cell System, which accounted for 30% of the series’ energy needs in 2023 (up from 5-10% in Season 2) 
• Grew its use of flexible solar panel systems, which now account for up to 20% of the series’ energy.  

Together in electric dreams

Dr. Matthew Bell, EY Global Climate Change and Sustainability Services Leader, says:

“Extreme E remains a powerful example of how a business can be successfully reimagined as a more sustainable model. Reflecting on the Season 3 report, I am thrilled that EY will continue as Extreme E’s Official Sustainability Partner."

"EY teams’ knowledge, capabilities and insight around climate change and sustainability, linked with Extreme E’s passion to constantly create lasting impact, means that this collaboration is underpinned by a strong sense of shared purpose. Ultimately, the report shows that the racing series is going from strength to strength, with its carbon footprint falling. This serves the broader ambition of promoting awareness around the planet’s climate crisis and leaving a more sustainable future for tomorrow’s generation.”

Footprint shrinks, audience grows

Alejandro Agag, CEO and Founder, Extreme E, said: “The report illustrates how Extreme E is leading the way as an action-based test bed for innovation and progress beyond the series.

“We have once again consistently achieved the lowest carbon footprint in motorsport in front of a TV audience that grew by 30% – reaching 135m viewers during Season 2 and continuing to grow its circle of influence.

“At the same time, we have seen our gender equal sporting format make significant gains.”

He added: “But the biggest successes come from collaboration; this is no longer just Extreme E’s crusade and EY, together with the rest of our partner cohort, are passionate contributors to our bold mission.”

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