Ahead of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship season opener, Mahindra Racing's Team Principal Dilbagh Gill announced the team would be planting a tree for every FANBOOST vote received by drivers Jerome D'Ambrosio and Pascal Wehrlein. In his own words, Gill explains how the initiative adds to the Championship's campaign for a more healthier world and what the team is doing off-track to ensure a carbon-neutral future.
We were thrilled to announce its pioneering new FANBOOST initiative ahead of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship’s season opener in Saudi Arabia in November. Throughout season six, every FANBOOST vote received by Mahindra Racing drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Jerome D’Ambrosio will convert into a tree planted; meaning fans of the electric street racing series can have a direct positive impact on the environment by voting for free.
To launch the initiative, Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions finalist and Ukraine’s Got Talent winner Kseniya Simonova created a special sand art video showing how fans can make a difference to the environment through tree planting. Simonova has most recently been seen on screen on Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, where Amanda Holden gave her the golden buzzer in the audition rounds to see her progress straight to the final and in America’s Got Talent: Champions, where she also reached the final.
The tree-planting initiative is another measure that we are taking as we continually strive to make positive changes for the environment. Mahindra Racing was the first, and remains the only, Formula E team to achieve FIA Sustainability Accreditation.We first successfully attained its two-star rating in November 2016 and, following a periodic audit in February this year, maintained its status in the framework, with the aim of being carbon neutral by 2020.
We are committed to the FIA environmental certification programme by minimising our environmental impact and working towards achieving carbon neutrality. We also take learnings from advanced technologies from our race car to apply it to road cars within our Race to Road initiative, developing and promoting more sustainable transportation solutions.
It’s important that Mahindra Racing continues to show innovation in its approach to raising environmental awareness and trying to help the world we all live in. We’re proud to be the only Formula E team to achieve FIA Sustainability Accreditation and to continue to set the standard.
At the end of the season, we will analyse the FANBOOST figures shared with the team from Formula E and plant the number of trees accordingly. The plantation of trees will be focused in the Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh, India, which is one of the key plantation locations under Mahindra Hariyali tree planting programme, which has been running for 12 years. Mahindra Hariyali launched with a target of planting one million trees a year. It surpassed its target by 22 per cent in its first year and, by March 2019, had planted more than 16 million trees. Hariyali means ‘greenery’ in Hindi.
Within the Mahindra Hariyali team, tree plantation is conducted by employees, their families, Mahindra dealers and associates. The plantations in Araku Valley are implemented and monitored by Naandi Foundation.
The Araku Valley is home to tribal people living in the hilly region that had lost the harmonious and mutually supportive relationship from the surrounding land. Their nutrition was severely challenged due to a variety of complex reasons; deforestation, increased mono-cropping, dependence on subsidised grain from the Indian government and threat of large-scale mining. By planting trees within this area, Mahindra, along with its implementation partner, Naandi Foundation, has enhanced the livelihood of the community and farmers and improved biodiversity in the region. The plantation includes coffee and that is now marketed as Araku coffee and sold across India, Paris and Switzerland and with plans to market it across other European markets.