Courtesy of Formula E
The 2024 Formula E racing calendar begins in just over 50 days in Mexico City, and Julia Paley – Vice President, Sustainability – is working hard behind the scenes to ensure motorsport’s first electric car race continues to lead the relation to sustainability. Formed in 2014, Formula E’s mission is to demonstrate that the combination of elite racing and sustainable mobility is fun and can pave the way to a “better, cleaner future”. Before the start of the tenth season of Formula E – a milestone for the innovative EV championship – Pallé has one more stop to make, a trip to the 28th edition of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP 28). Formula E’s Vice President of Sustainability is committed to ensuring that the racing championship and the sport as a whole have a voice in the global climate change debate.
A woman in motorsports
Julia was raised in France, near the headquarters of the multinational tire manufacturer Michelin. She is studying business and sustainability in preparation for a career in the industrial world and admits she didn’t grow up with an interest in cars or sports and certainly never envisioned a career in the sector. However, during her postgraduate studies at Grenoble School of Management, she took up a position at Michelin as Executive Director of Motorsport Sustainability. In accepting the position, Julia realizes that potential motorsports must be a difference maker in sustainability. What’s more, she understands the personal opportunity her new position affords her as a woman in a male-dominated industry.
Julia honed her skills at Michelin until 2014 when she made the jump to the fledgling Formula E championship. As one of the only women in the paddock, she worked hard to convince her colleagues that environmental sustainability is key in (motor)sports , and watched as her experience opened doors and let her rise through the ranks. During more than ten years in Formula E, she says she has found ways to embrace the masculine energy of the sector and insists that if you have experience, motorsport is an open environment. It boasts many achievements, including the championship’s “ISO 20121 (International Standard for Sustainable Events) certification, making Formula E the first motorsport to receive such certification.”
The upcoming season brings particular excitement as it is the tenth anniversary of the championship. Julia, who has been in Formula E for all ten seasons, thinks it will be an emotional year, but ever the scientist, she is already looking at top speeds (320km/h) and debating the use of lithium-ion or solid-state batteries. She suspects this season’s new technology and reduced battery anxiety will improve competition on the track and is happy to report that the next generation of cars (Gen 4) is already in development.
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The future of sports
Over the past ten years, Formula E has tried to steer the sport down a more environmentally friendly path, with a particular focus on electric vehicle technology and air quality. Unlike other sports, championship racing has environmental sustainability written into its founding principles, giving it credibility and a competitive edge as climate change accelerates. Paley insists that sustainability is not a Formula E strategy but part of the race’s culture, noting that “it is part of all our decision-making”.
After calculating its carbon footprint, Formula E found that 75% of emissions come from travel to race venues. The championship now uses block scheduling to create a calendar that limits long trips. In addition, Formula E uses sea transport whenever possible to reduce the additional emissions of long-haul air travel. After the preseason, all opening day competition materials will be shipped to Mexico by ocean freight.
With an eye on further reducing emissions, motorsport competition is using biofuels for transport and is engaged in talks with the aviation industry about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which Julia believes is a market that has “promise, needs regulation and there will be a pilot program soon.” The International Air Transport Association (IATA) believes that SAF “could contribute 65% of the emissions reductions needed by aviation to reach net zero by 2050”, although, as stated in the Seattle Times, researchers remain skeptical about the viability of SAF, its potential toxicity, and wonder if its use will actually increase air travel and therefore overall emissions.
In some ways, it is counterintuitive that motorsport is at the forefront of the sustainability of the sports sector. Research shows that cars – and poor transport networks – increase emissions, with the sector responsible for 30% of global emissions. However, Julia insists that road transport can play a role in the climate solution. She notes that the personal connection people have with cars – similar to the human-telephone connection – makes (electrified) cars “a very powerful tool to inspire a more sustainable way of life”.
As climate change accelerates, other sports must now find ways to reduce emissions and adapt to the new climate reality. Winter sports have already had to change competition dates and there is a growing coalition of winter sports athletes (Protect Our Winters) advocating for greater environmental protection. In addition, World Athletics works on air quality in stadiums and Julia believes that other sports need to engage more with the community to create positive environmental change. In her words, “take care of them and they’ll take care of the planet.”
Paley believes in data. She believes that technology “is capable of solving most of the problems that climate creates” and sees sport as a key industry that needs to invest in, support and demonstrate new technologies. It supports advances in train and aircraft technology, recognizing their role in global sports logistics. Her position contrasts with some researchers and practitioners who advocate only nature-based solutions to climate change, such as agroforestry, forest conservation and reforestation, and wetland restoration.
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The UN Sport Framework for Climate Action and COP 28
With the global community pushing for substantial climate action, the United Nations launched the Sports for Climate Action Framework, in which signatories commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2040. Unfortunately, Pallé admits that “there are two speeds in the framework,” referring to organizations that have signed up and are actively reducing emissions, and those that have simply signed up. Still, Julia remains optimistic and is encouraged to see some sports engage in climate action while remaining profitable.
Part of pushing for further climate action in sport is engaging with other sectors. That is why, for the fourth time, Julia and the Formula E team will attend the COP. According to her, the COP experience is always the same, but “it’s a must on the climate calendar” because it brings everyone around the table. Such conferences provide a platform for substantive climate action, but the last few editions have led to a sense of dissatisfaction and frustration at the lack of firm commitments to curb emissions and divest the oil and gas sector.
Paley understands the public frustration and says it stems from the fact that “diplomacy requires compromise.” This frustration was exacerbated by the venue and president of this year’s conference: the United Arab Emirates and Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
Julia says it makes perfect sense for the public to be confused and irritated by the paradoxical nature of things, but unlike many environmentalists, academics, progressives and sustainability experts, she insists that the fossil fuel industry’s presence at the table can be of advantage. She notes that she still has something to offer and that she has the finances to help make the transition to green energy, even though there is public skepticism that it will happen. Still, she believes that “turning people off means they’re not going to change,” so she prefers to sit down and talk to them.
Although Pallé admits that the COP often consists of nice talk but limited action, she is excited to attend and says it will help legitimize the role of electric cars in the drive for sustainability and show that they, not hydrogen or biofuels, are the future.
It’s unclear what will come of Julia’s trip to COP 28 or who will win the next Formula E championship, but what is clear is that Formula E’s vice president of sustainability sees collaboration and technology as a way to tackle climate change . Only time will tell if she is right.
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