Recently, Race Against Climate Change Live took place as part of Formula E’s celebrations in London. Envision Racing brought together leading figures from across the world of sport, business and government to inspire action on the climate emergency and announce a call to arms for all involved in sport to continue the fight against climate change.
The Race Against Climate Change Live event was hosted at the Tate Modern and held in partnership with TIME and COP26. Headline speakers included Michele Uva, Director, Football & Social Responsibility at UEFA, Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu, Sectors Engagement Lead on Sports and Fashion at UNFCC and Eoghan Griffin, Head of Sustainability at META.
Among the guest speakers was Eliud Kipchoge, the Kenyan long-distance runner who is the current marathon world recorder and a double world record holder. He is also a huge advocate of climate change and likes to use his position in sport to spread the word.
He is now running his most important race, the race against time to help save the planet from the climate crisis and is calling on the world’s athletes to join him. Kipchoge spoke to the audience at the event about the impact of climate change on athletes and the work of his foundation, the Eliud Kipchoge Foundation. This is committed to the education of children and reforestation in parts of Kenya.
Kipchoge said: “We must make the environment our core value. We need to devote more to education, come together with foundations in Africa to understand what a clean environment is and implement solutions through collaboration. We must come together as one and move forward.
“I am talking [about climate change] with a loud voice. I’m on the rooftop, telling them that when the environment is clean, our lives are better. I am talking all the time to athletes and asking them to raise their voices. We are mostly affected because we need to train in a clean environment.
“We need to breathe that clean air. We need to be surrounded by clean forests and a clean environment everywhere. I’m putting more effort into this, and many athletes will come together in the run-up to COP 27. If we run as fast as we think we can, our air will be clean and our water will be blue.”
The Formula E electric racing season concluded recently in Seoul and marked the end of the Gen 2 cars racing. These will be replaced by the Gen 3 electric vehicles (EVs) when Formula E’s Season 9 begins.
This will be the biggest Formula E season to date and will feature 18 races over 13 cities. The events will run from January 2023 through to July and will continue to spread the word about sustainability around the globe.
