November 12, 2021 – The team also appoints first Director of Sustainability. McLaren Racing today announced the appointment of its first Director of Sustainability, and its signature of both the UN Sports for Climate Action Commitment and the UN Race to Zero pledge during the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.
McLaren Racing’s first Director of Sustainability, Kim Wilson, will join the team on 31 January 2022. Kim was most recently employed by EDF in the UK where she has been at the forefront of their sustainable business agenda for more than a decade. Her most recent focus was on developing EDF’s Helping Britain Achieve Net Zero campaign.
Kim Wilson, Director of Sustainability, McLaren Racing, said:
“McLaren Racing’s ambition to drive and champion innovation that helps others transition to a net zero, circular world and positively contribute to a truly sustainable future is really inspiring. I am excited to be joining the team at such a pivotal time and am looking forward to working with my new colleagues to turn these bold ambitions into reality.”
Tim Bampton, Chief Communications & Sustainability Officer, McLaren Racing, said:
“Kim is a senior sustainability professional who will bring a wealth of experience of embedding sustainability into the culture and decision-making at McLaren Racing. Her experience in this field is second to none. She joins McLaren at a time when our future commitment to sustainability is of paramount importance and I have no doubt she will deliver shared value for the team at McLaren as well as to the environment.”
By becoming a signatory to the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Commitment, McLaren Racing is committed to joining the sports community as a responsible global citizen combating climate change. The framework includes measuring, reducing and reporting the team’s greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the 1.5-degree commitment enshrined in the Paris Agreement and to committing to being carbon net zero by 2040. McLaren Racing has already committed to achieving net zero by 2030.
Similarly, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Race to Zero campaign exists to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities and investors for a healthy and resilient zero-carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.
These announcements follow an engagement hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales during the first week of COP26 last week, to mark McLaren’s entry into Extreme E and the team’s first-ever female racing driver and reveal of its launch livery. Extreme E is an all-electric motorsport platform which exists to raise awareness of climate change through the terrains it races on in remote parts of the world and promote diversity. McLaren’s Extreme E team has partnered with Count Us In, a global platform that shares high-impact, achievable steps to reduce carbon pollution, which align with the UN’s sustainability development goals.
Earlier this year, McLaren Racing launched its strategy for a sustainable team, which details the organisation’s continued commitment to addressing climate change through enhancing both its environmental and social areas of impact. This strategy is centred around four clear areas of focus: the two primary areas of environmental focus are achieving a net-zero emissions target by 2030 and the transition towards a circular economy, while the two primary areas of social focus are being delivered through maximising positive impact in the areas of diversity, equality and inclusion, and promoting mental and physical health and wellbeing.
During 2021, this strategy was augmented through independent expert analysis, input and innovative initiatives, including the development of a robust data driven net-zero route map, the incorporation of bio-based materials solutions in the design of our F1 car, through to the launch of the McLaren Racing Engage programme which will advance the team’s diversity, equality and inclusion agenda as part of its broader sustainability programme. The programme is an alliance of four partners which aims to diversify talent and promote STEM and motorsport as accessible vocations to under-represented and under-privileged groups. The partners are: EqualEngineers, The Women’s Engineering Society and The Smallpeice Trust.
