Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton before the race. Reuters

With the UAE gearing up to host COP28 next week, Yas Marina Circuit has revealed how its all-new LED track lighting system will help substantially reduce the circuit’s annual carbon emissions.

Installed earlier this year, the state-of-the-art lighting system increases efficiency by 34 per cent, leading to a 24 per cent reduction in annual electricity usage, as well as a reduction in the circuit’s annual carbon emissions by up to 30 percent.

This equates to a saving of 927 metric tonnes of CO2 per year, which is the equivalent to 399,115 litres of gasoline, 2,167 barrels of oil, or 476,083 kg of coal. In commercial terms, the cutting-edge technology used also provides Yas Marina Circuit with annual energy savings of over Dhs1 million.

The upgraded track lighting is only one facet of Ethara’s sustainability commitment, and complements its existing green-friendly efforts such as all staff uniforms are being made from recycled plastics, a ‘plastic-free’ environment introduced at the Media Centre, Paddock and Pit Lane as well as Team Villas, and the introduction of an innovative water recycling system called ‘Eshara’ at key locations that use atmospheric water generators (AWG), capable of creating high-quality drinking water from the air.

Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas with his girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell before the race.

These and other new green programmes being rolled out across the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix align fully with Abu Dhabi government’s Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative, as well as the Formula 1 environmental sustainability plan, which aims to enable the championship to reduce its carbon footprint, hosting sustainable events by 2025 and becoming Net-Zero Carbon by 2030.

Yas Marina Circuit is also a champion of sustainability in motorsports, receiving the Three-Star Environmental Certification from the FIA, the governing body’s highest recognition of sustainability. The award is an acknowledgement of the circuit’s long-standing commitment to environmental management with the objective of standing with Formula One in becoming Net-Zero Carbon by 2030.

WAM