The BBC Green Sport Awards, now in their fourth year, celebrate the athletes and organisations using their global platforms to champion sustainability. At a ceremony hosted at BBC Broadcasting House, Formula E was recognised alongside Olympian Hector Pardoe, named Athlete of the Year, and footballer Héctor Bellerín, who won the Global Champion award.

Honouring Sport’s Green Champions

The Global Champion award was given to former Arsenal player Héctor Bellerín, one of football’s most vocal advocates for sustainability. Now playing for Real Betis, he is a Chief Ambassador for the club’s ‘Forever Green’ initiative, helping establish it as a leading environmentally conscious team in Europe. Bellerín lives his values by embracing a vegan lifestyle, choosing to cycle over driving, and famously pledging to plant trees for every Arsenal win. With a global following, he continues to inspire climate action across sport and beyond.

This year’s Athlete of the Year is Hector Pardoe, a 24-year-old Olympic open-water swimmer who has turned personal experience with polluted water into powerful advocacy. Campaigning for cleaner rivers and lakes, Pardoe made history in the summer of 2025 by completing the Three Lakes Challenge, becoming the first person to swim Britain’s largest three lakes—Windermere, Ullswater, and Loch Lomond—back-to-back in under 24 hours. The gruelling challenge raised awareness and funds for the environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Formula E: Pioneering a Sustainable Future

In honouring Formula E, the BBC stated: “Formula E continues to lead the charge in sustainable motorsport. Net Zero since its 2014 debut, it was the first sport to have SBTi-validated emissions targets and to join the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework”. This external validation is a cornerstone of the series’ credibility.

Julia Palle, Formula E’s Vice-President for Sustainability, expressed her pride in the achievement. “We are honoured to be recognised in the Pioneer category,” she said¹ “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at Formula E – from our races to our community initiatives”. Palle pointed to the championship’s recent Net Zero Pathway certification from the British Standards Institution (BSI) as a key milestone, making it the first sport globally to receive such an endorsement.

This certification is more than just a title; it verifies “genuine carbon reduction performance” against the highest international standards, moving beyond a simple reliance on carbon offsetting. Matt Page, a Senior Vice President at BSI, called the award a “well-deserved recognition of its leadership in sustainable sport,” reflecting a “deep commitment to credible, science-based climate action”.

Beyond its robust sustainability frameworks, Formula E is proving to be a critical testbed for future automotive technology. The introduction of ‘Pit Boost’ this past season has been a game-changer. This “groundbreaking 600kW ultra-fast charging strategy” gives cars a 10% energy boost in just 30 seconds, revolutionising race tactics and, more importantly, demonstrating the potential of rapid charging technology.

Palle believes this innovation is on a fast track to public use, helping to overcome one of the main barriers to mainstream EV adoption: charging speed. “I would not think it’s going to take more than five years, max, before we see a fast charger in the mainstream on our streets,” she told BBC Sport. This tangible link between the racetrack and the road is where Formula E’s pioneering spirit truly comes to life.

A United Front: Industry Leaders Discuss Sport’s Climate Challenge

The event also featured a discussion between experts on the front line of sport’s climate response. Kate Chapman, Head of Sustainability for the London Marathon, explained how sustainability is “embedded in the planning process,” giving participants options to “plant a tree” instead of receiving a finisher’s t-shirt. Representing the broadcaster’s role, BBC Sport’s controller of production, Debbie Dubois, noted that while they don’t control event locations, there is “a huge amount that is” in their power, highlighting how the BBC smashed a 35% flight reduction target for the past summer’s events, ultimately achieving a 76% reduction. Professor Mandy Orr urged fans to become active participants in the change, encouraging them to celebrate good practice and “call it out when something’s going really wrong”.

The awards serve a greater purpose, as articulated by Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport. “It’s fantastic to celebrate the game-changers pushing sport in a greener direction,” he stated. “Sport has the power to inspire, unite, and lead – and these awards spotlight those using that power to protect the planet”.

For Formula E, winning the Pioneer Award is a powerful validation. It confirms that the roar of motorsport doesn’t have to come at the planet’s expense. As it continues to push the limits of electric performance and sustainable practice, the championship is not just racing for trophies but accelerating a cleaner, faster future for everyone.