Sustainability at Goodwood motorsport events
At Goodwood we recognise that our future is entwined with authenticity, sustainability, and the protection of our natural capital.
As part of delivering Goodwood’s strategic purpose to grow our social, environmental, and economic contribution, we are proudly committed to several long-term sustainability projects, driven by a pressing ambition to become a carbon positive estate. On this page, we have highighted some of the key sustainability initiatives in place at our headline motorsport events.
The 2023 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard
• The Festival of Speed continues to champion the future of mobility and automotive technology, with the expansion of Electric Avenue and a growing number of alternatively fuelled vehicles.
• At the 2023 Festival of Speed, approximately 20% of the vehicles at the event will run on alternative fuels – whether that’s hydrogen, electric or synthetic.
• Four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel will attend this year’s Festival of Speed and will only drive cars running on synthetic fuel at the event.
Carbon
- We encourage our visitors to use public transport or car share to get to our events, to help reduce car emissions and traffic in the local area.
- We partner with TrainHugger, so that rail journeys to Goodwood can contribute to our environmental schemes.
- 65% of our on-site generators are powered by bio fuels, and this percentage is increasing.
- We draw power from our onsite biomass energy centre which burns the straw bales used at the Festival of Speed, and woodchip from across the Estate. In 2022, 2,382,000 KWh of electricity was generated at the biomass plant, powering our Hotel, Health Club and Goodwood House.
- The role of alternative fuels at Goodwood’s headline motorsport events is rapidly evolving. At this September’s Revival, the Fordwater Trophy will see a grid of 30 pre-66 Porsche 911s race on synthetic fuels - the first time a race like this has ever been held.
Waste and water
- We have complimentary drinking water stations across the event site, and encourage visitors and staff to bring their own re-usable bottles.
- Thanks to an ongoing partnership with official water supplier, South Downs Water, all Goodwood events now use 100% recycled PET water bottles where bottled water is necessary.
- Event food concessions use paper or compostable packaging to reduce the overall amount of non-recyclable waste and we have doubled the number of customer bins to improve recycling on site.
- We partner with One Cup to provide a re-usable cup scheme, with dedicated collection bins at each waste recycling point.
- The Revival ethos of 'Revive and Thrive' applies to the vehicles on track, which through renovation and maintenance reduce the reliance on new cars.
Natural capital
- In 2022, we introduced a voluntary carbon offset levy to our event tickets, to fund ongoing tree planting, hedgerow-laying and re-wilding schemes across the Estate.
- In the last three years, Goodwood has planted over 100,000 trees, laid hundreds of metres of hedgerows and re-wilded large areas of the Estate.
Social value
We continue to provide employment for thousands of local people across our events, with 90% of event staff living within a 25 mile radius of Goodwood.
In 2022, we:
- Raised almost £900,000 for charities.
- Donated a further £25,000 worth of tickets to charities and causes,
- Gave £120,000 worth of tickets to local residents.
Want to know more?
To discover how we embrace sustainability in everything we do at Goodwood, read our annual Estate sustainability reports in full.