Natural selection

If all the carbon fibre in a Formula 1 car was replaced with natural fibre composites there would be a 97.6 per cent reduction in the CO2 emissions produced

Up to 85 per cent of a Formula 1 car is made from carbon fibre composite components, yet these only account for roughly 20 per cent of the car’s overall weight. With the minimum weight now regulated to 740kg without fuel or driver, this equates to around 148kg of carbon fibre on each car. Research shows that the manufacture of one tonne of carbon fibre material results in approximately 29.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Therefore, to produce the carbon fibre required for one F1 car, approximately 2960kg of CO2 is released into the atmosphere. Furthermore, carbon fibre currently lacks viable end-of-life options, hence waste volumes are growing rapidly, and toxic carbon dust can cause hazards within the working environment.

Green flag

In comparison, one tonne of natural fibres has a carbon footprint of around 0.7 tonnes. So theoretically, if all the carbon fibre offer an insight into how much more environmentally friendly natural fibres can be compared to the likes of carbon fibre.