Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsportin the Middle East’, announced today that it has been awarded 3-Star EnvironmentalAccreditation by the FIA, its highest level of recognition for environmentalperformance.

The FIA Environmental Accreditation Programme is aimed at helping motorsportorganisations measure and enhance their environmental performance. Split acrossthree tiers, the top 3-star accreditation is awarded to those who demonstratebest practice and commitment and seek continual improvement through theimplementation of an environmental management system.

The award follows a detailed application and auditing process where BIC wasevaluated across several areas including commitment from senior leadershiptowards environmental management, clearly defined environmental objectives,auditing and measurement across areas including energy, water and wastemanagement, transport and logistics, biodiversity and carbon emissions.

BIC was able to showcase its comprehensive sustainability plan in action acrossthe venue, as well as several groundbreaking initiatives. These included:

BIC’s industry-leading solar production facility which produced over 5 millionKWH of clean energy in its first year, enough to cover all the usage for F1with significant capacity to spare, the equivalent of offsetting 3,108 tonnesof carbon.

Innovative energy-saving measures which have included a building managementsystem that efficiently monitors and manages light and air conditioningprovision, an upgrade to more efficient air conditioning chillers and thereplacement of all street and building lighting with LED lights. This hasresulted in over 30% savings in energy use over the year.

Green Ticket initiative: A partnership with Bapco Energies during WEC, where aproportion of ticket sales are used to fund the plating of mangrove plantationsin Bahrain, which plants 5,000 trees per year.

Waste management initiatives, including a ban on all single-use plastic bottleswith free water fountains for fans, enhanced fan recycling facilities and afood donation programme.

Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of BIC said: "We are deeplyproud to have received the highest-level accreditation for sustainability bythe FIA. It reflects the comprehensive plan that we have established andimplemented over several years to ensure we are responsible for theenvironment. I thank the FIA for their recognition of our work, as well as theguidance and support we receive from F1 and countless other stakeholders toachieve our ambitions. We will continue to work hard across all areas of ourbusiness to develop best practice initiatives to ensure we protect theenvironment."

Sara Mariani, FIA Sustainability & D&I Director, said: "The venuesthat host motorsport play a vital role as we move towards a moreenvironmentally sustainable future, as the systems and processes they put inplace affect everyone at our events. We would like to congratulate the BahrainInternational Circuit on achieving the highest 3-Star level, they havedemonstrated best practices and made considerable steps forward in recent yearsto increase their energy efficiency and use more sustainable energy sources.This is, of course, an ongoing process, but the FIA’s EnvironmentalAccreditation Programme ensures that our stakeholders are all benchmarked andable to set continuous, tailor-made targets to keep improving."

Ellen Jones, Head of ESG, Formula 1, said: "The use of renewable energy atevents is crucial in F1’s commitment to reach Net Zero by 2030, so it is greatto see the Bahrain International Circuit embracing the transition to become oneof the leaders in this space. The continued success of our Promoters achievingthe FIA three-star accreditation is a testament to the united efforts fromstakeholders across the sport to create a more sustainable F1."