Honda's green dreams

When Jensen Button rattled past the finishing line at Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix in a haze of green and blue, it would have perhaps surprised a few non-aficionados of the sport that he was racing for Team Honda.

Traditionally covered in sponsors from rear to tip, the Formula One constructor has spent the last year hurtling round the circuit in a livery dubbed the "Earth Car", with minimal corporate advertising signalling the car manufacturer's desire to go green.

To coincide with the makeover, Honda Racing have started their "earthdreams" campaign, an initiative that aims to tackle environmental issues by investing in projects around the world.

Nick Fry, Chief Executive Officer and Team Principal of Honda Racing, tells Emirates Business why they are focusing attention on the scheme.

"What we decided to do was to try to raise people's awareness of environmental issues," says Fry as he relaxes after his speech at the Global Travel and Tourism Summit at the Jumeirah Madinat.

"The whole philosophy behind it is that Grand Prix racing has more than 600 million people who watch it on a regular basis every year, so there's a huge audience we can speak to. Honda is one of the top 20 best-known brands in the world, so working off the back of a fantastic brand label like that is very important. But it's also got to have substance and we couldn't do this if Honda hadn't moved in that direction right from the start."

Heralding Honda's contribution to conservation is not just Fry towing the party line.

Honda has a history deeply rooted in pioneering methods for more environmentally friendly produce, and a very impressive one at that. It was the first car company to meet the clean-air regulations of the 1970s, where manufacturers replaced dirty two-stroke engines with four-stroke motorcycle or powerboat engines, thus reducing the output of harmful gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.

The Japanese firm was also, in conjunction with Toyota, the first in the market to introduce hybrid cars, a model that lessens the amount of idle emissions that cars usually discharge when the engine is not being used to move the vehicle.

"Right from the establishment of the company after the Second World War, Mr Honda himself has always been completely passionate in making sure out of all the materials that go into his plant to make the cars, the only thing that comes out are the cars themselves," says Fry. "To demonstrate that, Honda has just announced a fuel-cell vehicle, which is now available for sale, so there really is a great environmental background there.

"And we've just been awarded '14001'," he says triumphantly. "Which is the environmental standard for excellence and we're the only F1 team to have that award. So we really are taking the whole thing to our hearts."

After scooping a couple of major Green awards for last year's "myearthdream" – a campaign that saw the old RA107 model covered in 70,000 fans' names in support of the environment – the F1 team have evolved the project into "earthdreams".

The new campaign shifts the former from awareness to action, supporting a whole range of environmental efforts throughout the world. These are as diverse as marine and rainforest conservation to inner-city regeneration, illustrated by recent funding of run-down areas of Sao Paulo and Melbourne.

"The one that really went out to everyone's hearts was the project in Melbourne, Australia," says the 51-year-old. "The 'Lighthouse Foundation' [a charity for the homeless] has no government or local backing whatsoever – it's all from local businesses – and it really is putting a physical area of Melbourne that's run down, and the people within it, back on its feet again."

Honda's funding of the programme emphasises the team's eagerness to act, rather than just add hearsay to a global debate.

"We're putting money behind it, not just our name," he says. "So far this year we've given around $1.2 million (Dh4.4m) and for these groups even $100,000 is a huge amount of money. We gave the Lighthouse Foundation that amount and it means the world to them.

"And it's not just our money. We've had contributions from F1 fans throughout the world and a lot of our sponsors, such as Seiko (watch company) have given money to the foundation. We then distribute it to the appropriate causes so it's definitely a lot more than just putting our name to it."

To highlight how active the team are in the project, Fry describes the work that goes into determining those worthy of sponsorship.

"We put together a group of acknowledged experts in the field. These people have got experience in a number of different arenas, not just the environment but other charitable organisations, and they've done some magnificent work for us. We wanted it to be with a third-party to make sure that it was done properly. We're an F1 team after all, we're not equipped to monitor and vet charities in the way the group does for us."

With Honda Racing continuing the trend set by its parent company, the Team Principal acknowledges that the rest of the sport may find it harder to emulate the front-runners' passion for all things green. "For some of the others it's a much more difficult message and it comes down to whether you're a leader in this area – and Honda is – or whether you're a follower. And for the followers, it's not as easy to communicate because it's not the core message of their brand.

"It's critical to act because if we don't do something positive we'll be outlawed. If F1 continues to be very glamorous but does not pay heed to the bigger issues in the world it simply won't survive. And that's very important. It's an unpleasant message but one people need to understand. So if we do something positive hopefully other teams will follow us. Times are changing quite rapidly, even for a sport that is fairly known for its huge consumption of resources; we're moving in that direction."

The initiative has been criticised by some environmental groups because of the sport's high level of pollution, but Fry admits to putting the allegations of hypocrisy to good use.

"I know it was a little bit of a surprise for a F1 team to be promoting environmental issues, but it has been very well accepted," he says. "You always get a small number of detractors but frankly they're good fun.

"They need to be there because they highlight the issue that bit more, so you've got to be controversial. You've got to be at the forefront and you've got to expect that some people are going to be the naysayers, but the reality is they may be vocal, but they're very few."

Maybe Greenpeace will realise that the 600 million watching Button take sixth place in Barcelona last weekend make for a pretty impressive target audience.

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