Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’, announced today that it has been awarded 3* Environmental Accreditation by the FIA, its highest level of recognition for environmental performance.

The FIA Environmental Accreditation Programme is aimed at helping motorsport organisations measure and enhance their environmental performance. Split across three tiers, the top 3* accreditation is awarded to those that demonstrate best practice and commitment and seek continual improvement through the implementation of an environmental management system.

The award follows a detailed application and auditing process where BIC was evaluated across several areas including commitment from senior leadership towards environmental management, clearly defined environmental objectives, auditing and measurement across areas including energy, water and waste management, transport and logistics, biodiversity and carbon emissions.

BIC was able to showcase its comprehensive sustainability plan in action across the venue, as well as several groundbreaking initiatives. These included:

• BIC’s industry-leading solar production facility which produced over 5 million KWH of clean energy in its first year, enough to cover all the usage for F1 with significant capacity to spare, the equivalent of offsetting 3,108 tonnes of carbon.
• Innovative energy saving measures which have included a building management system that efficiently monitors and manages light and air conditioning provision, an upgrade to more efficient air conditioning chillers and the replacement of all street and building lighting to LED lights. This has resulted in over 30% saving in energy use over the year.
• Green Ticket initiative: A partnership with Bapco Energies during WEC, where a proportion of ticket sales are used to fund the plating of mangrove plantations in Bahrain, which plants 5,000 trees per year.
• Waste management initiatives, including a ban on all single use plastic bottles with free water fountains for fans, enhanced fan recycling facilities and a food donation programme.

Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of Bahrain International Circuit, said:

“We are deeply proud to have received the highest-level accreditation for sustainability by the FIA. It reflects our comprehensive plan that we have established and implemented over a number of years to ensure we are responsible to the environment. I thank the FIA for their recognition of our work, as well as the guidance and support we receive from F1 and countless other stakeholders to achieve our ambitions. We will continue to work hard across all areas of our business to develop best practice initiatives to ensure we protect the environment.”

Sara Mariani – FIA Sustainability & D&I Director, said:

“The venues that host motor sport play a vital role as we move towards a more environmentally sustainable future, as the systems and processes they put in place affect everyone at our events. We would like to congratulate the Bahrain International Circuit on achieving the highest 3-Star level – they have demonstrated best practice and made considerable steps forward in recent years to increase their energy efficiency and use more sustainable energy sources. This is, of course, an ongoing process, but the FIA’s Environmental Accreditation Programme ensures that our stakeholders are all benchmarked and able to set continuous, tailor-made targets to keep improving.”

Ellen Jones, Head of ESG, Formula 1, said:

“The use of renewable energy at events is crucial in F1’s commitment to reach Net Zero by 2030, so it is great to see the Bahrain International Circuit embracing the transition to become one of the leaders in this space. The continued success of our Promoters achieving the FIA three-star accreditation is testament to the united efforts from stakeholders across the sport to create a more sustainable F1.”