INCREMENTAL ENVIRONMENTALISM
Take a deep breath, everyone. It’s time to talk about the dread word of these times and the greatest threat to our sport’s existence: sustainability. The headlines are dominated by it at World championship level, but even at the grassroots of British rallying, ‘sustainability’ is changing the sport forever – and hopefully for the better.
The western world is informed daily by the forces of political legislation, media coverage and Twitter that cars are the biggest cause of climate change on the planet. This prevailing logic decrees that commuting, doing the school run and even driving across the country to check on a vulnerable relative are an unacceptable carbon cost. Meanwhile ‘driving in circles’, as motorsport is often referred to, is increasingly demonised.
Recently, COP26 provided yet another opportunity to hammer home the message that we are killing the planet with cars. Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Hyundai-Kia were publicly vilified for refusing to sign a COP26 commitment to produce only zero tailpipe emissions vehicles by 2035. Despite the outcry, their logic for taking this stand was simple:
