Nissan Formula E Team opts to offset through innovative ‘Ultra Spirulina’ project
The team joins forces with software company Coral to neutralize its 2022/23 emissions through advanced carbon credit platform
YOKOHAMA, Japan (January 4, 2024) – Nissan Formula E Team, through its partnership with UAE-based software company Coral, announces today that it will work with biotech company VAXA Technologies to offset its carbon emissions generated during Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
Coral, who specializes in reliably offsetting carbon emissions, has now released its report on the team’s total carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e) during the 2022/23 campaign of the all-electric series, including travel, waste, and energy usage at the factory. As part of its commitment to sustainability and alongside its pledge to reduce the team’s emissions, Nissan Formula E Team will offset 100 percent of its Season 9 CO2e in 2024.
In order to achieve this, the team is working with Coral to purchase offsets from VAXA Technologies. This innovative biotech company produces Icelandic Ultra Spirulina (IUS) in a verified carbon-negative process, which converts clean energy to food (E2F) by leveraging resources from the adjacent geothermal plant.
Icelandic Ultra Spirulina uses just 0.0001 percent of the land, and relies on 0.015 percent of the water used in conventional beef production, as evidenced in a recent publication from Cambridge University. The credits purchased by Nissan Formula E Team will contribute towards VAXA’s Impact Nutrition ACTION food fortification programs in developing countries across Africa, Asia and South America, working with reputable NGOs to help reduce the gap on those living with nutritional deficiencies. This technological breakthrough project is looking to save more than 100 million tons of CO2e over the next 15 years while taking impact nutrition to those who need it most.
Offsetting Season 9’s emissions is the first step in the partnership signed by Nissan Formula E Team and Coral in October 2023. Following that, Coral will also help the team in assessing, monitoring, reducing and offsetting their emissions for Season 10, using their technology which utilizes a combination of advanced tooling such as AI and blockchain. Coral’s platform provides complete transparency and auditability for each high-quality credit that Nissan Formula E Team acquires, ensuring that all its emissions are offset and fully evaluated in accordance with global emissions monitoring standards.
This reinforces Nissan’s commitment to carbon neutrality and zero-emissions vehicles by 2050 and its Ambition 2030 strategy, with the electrification mix across the Nissan and Infiniti brands projected to increase to more than 55% globally by the turn of the decade, while creating a global ecosystem that supports sustainable solutions for everyone.
In addition, with its involvement in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship confirmed until at least 2026, Nissan Formula E Team was also recently awarded FIA 3 Star Environmental Accreditation for a second year, further highlighting the team’s pledge to CO2e reduction.
Tommaso Volpe, managing director and team principal, Nissan Formula E Team: “Since partnering with Coral, we have wanted to be completely transparent about the actions we need to take to minimize the environmental impact of Nissan Formula E Team. Thanks to their technology, we were able to precisely calculate our carbon footprint from Season 9, while we can have absolute confidence that we’re offsetting all of our emissions with high-quality credits, investing in a fully verified project through a reliable platform. The VAXA Impact project provides an innovative solution for one of the main contributors to climate change – animal agriculture – and we’re delighted to be investing in them. Their work also goes beyond sustainability, as their programs aim to close the gap in nutrition deficiencies to those in developing countries. This marks another great step towards Nissan Formula E Team’s carbon neutrality goals.”
Daniele Sileri, Founder and Head of Strategy, Coral: “Nissan Formula E Team has been the perfect launch partner for Coral. We are delighted to show the tangible results of our partnership in a matter of weeks, whereby we can help the team offset the entire carbon footprint from Season 9. It is equally rewarding to facilitate this landmark offset with VAXA Impact, which is radically redefining food and nutrition.”
