McLaren Group retains Carbon Trust Standard for ongoing commitment to carbon reduction

07 November 2012

McLaren Group has been recertified with the Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon for successfully measuring, managing and reducing carbon emissions across the entire Group's UK operations.

This achievement makes Vodafone McLaren Mercedes the first Formula 1 team to retain the Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon, and underlines the Group's continuous quest to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of its direct operations.

McLaren Group was first awarded the Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon in December 2010 after several years of rigorous assessment, and has honed its energy efficiency strategies to reduce its carbon footprint on a relative basis by 9% - based on tonnes of carbon and equivalent (CO2e) emissions relative to head-count. This follows a two-year period of significant expansion within McLaren Automotive, which has seen the construction of the 32,000 square metre manufacturing facility, the McLaren Production Centre (MPC), the employment of nearly 300 additional full time staff, and the design, development and distribution of a range of high-performance sports cars including the 12C and 12C Spider.

The McLaren Group has continued to reduce its carbon footprint by researching and implementing state-of-the-art, energy-saving technologies across both the MPC and the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC). This process has been driven by the creativity and precision of world-class engineers from across the organisation, who compare and consider every potential energy saving measure - no matter how small. The initiatives that have contributed to the Group's year-on-year carbon reduction include:

  • The services of MPC are linked to, and supplied by, a central plant in MTC. This ensures that shared systems - such as air compressors and chillers - are operating at optimum efficiency, therefore eliminating the potential waste of running two systems at partial loads.
  • Heat recovery systems across MPC capture excess process energy and redistribute it to other areas of the building in need of heat.
  • The installation of new, more energy efficient simulation equipment across McLaren Racing has led to savings of 300 tonnes of CO2e per year.
  • The continued deployment of new, longer-lasting and more efficient lighting within the MTC has led to a saving of 200 tonnes of CO2e per year.