McLaren will partner with the Australian non-profit Great Barrier Reef Foundation, as part of its climate program.
Key points:
- McLaren is partnering with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation in an effort to help restoration
- The F1 team is hoping its expertise in engineering can help the environment
- It is part of a climate plan the team has, partnering with groups around the world
The famed British racing team, which competes in major racing series including Formula 1 and IndyCar, announced partnerships with three organisations worldwide, “committed to high-quality projects that address the impacts of climate change”.
The partnerships are part of a wider climate program, which many teams in Formula 1 have, that McLaren says has the ultimate goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
In a statement announcing the partnerships, McLaren said the team was also committed to “support the restoration of damaged ecosystems”.
Along with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, McLaren has struck agreements with Brazil-based Mombak and carbon dioxide removal project UNDO.
Anna Marsden, managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, said the partnership with McLaren will be vital for the organisation’s efforts to restore the reef.
“Climate change is the number one threat to the Great Barrier Reef. We need to urgently restore damaged reefs and enhance the resilience of the ecosystem,” she said.
“Our next challenge is to solve significant science and engineering bottlenecks that will allow us to scale up this critical work in a closing window of opportunity.
“The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is excited to partner with McLaren to leverage the team’s elite engineering skills to help accelerate coral reef restoration at a scale and speed never before attempted.”
McLaren Racing chief Zak Brown said he was looking forward to how the engineering prowess McLaren has will be able to help the foundation.
“We are excited to team up with these three organisations to remove emissions from the atmosphere, raise awareness of the important work they do, and in the case of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation apply our specific know how and high-performance expertise to help optimise their processes and drive impact at scale,” he said.
McLaren has had a strong connection with Australia in recent years.
Melbourne-born Oscar Piastri is a current driver for the F1 team, contracted until 2026.
WA’s Daniel Ricciardo drove with McLaren F1 in 2021 and 2022, winning the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at Monza for the team.
During the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, McLaren had the logo of Indigenous charity Deadly Science on the livery of Ricciardo’s car.