Reducing carbon emissions increasingly dominates global politics as the key to stemming global warming. Historic motorsport might just be a tiny carbon contributor to the grand scheme of things, but it can’t just ignore the problem and hope it goes away, because it won’t.
Fortunately, the innovative team at Hero-Era are, as always, ahead of the curve. The Historic Endurance Rally Organization, which includes the Endurance Rally Association, is one of the busiest event organizers with an impressive program of global events, ranging from fairly straightforward UK day rallies to Beijing and Paris.
The eighth edition of this formidable epic will pit more than 100 classic cars against 37 days of difficult roads, across 10 countries and 9,000 miles. It is a glorious test of man and machine, but it is also an easy target for environmental criticism. Driving classic cars for thousands of miles through remote landscapes is a tiny part of the carbon problem, but it’s clearly open to challenges.
To help counter any criticism or objection, Hero-Era recently spent a lot of time and effort establishing how, as a whole organization, it can become carbon neutral. It is a revolutionary initiative, but it is an initiative that other organizations will have to follow in the months and years to come.
She worked with specialist Be Zero Carbon to produce a detailed analysis of everything she does, from office heating to government travel and all the other things that impact her carbon output.
Hero-Era’s carbon output last year was estimated at 424 tonnes, and that footprint is now being offset by investments in managed and sustainable forests.
As its schedule of events gradually returns to pre-pandemic levels, its carbon output will increase as major global classic endurance rallies return to the calendar. Yet all of this will be carefully monitored and will operate on a carbon neutral basis.
It’s an important step in making historic motorsport more acceptable and responsible, and Hero-Era should be applauded for taking the lead. Others will surely follow, as carbon neutralization must be the minimum goal of historic motorsport to continue to justify its existence.
The pursuit of carbon neutrality is also a useful tool for organizers of events like Hero-Era when dealing with access to countries, negotiations with regional governments and even relations with host cities and potential sponsors. .
“Historic motorsport is a negligible carbon contributor,” said a spokesperson for Hero-Era, “but it’s important that we do it. Recovery goes through properly managed forests, and we are working with other leading organizations to come up with historic motorsports and carbon neutral classic cars. “
Paul Lawrence
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-14 05:01:24
