ITER NEWSLINE
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Nico Rosberg
Racing towards a sustainable future
Kirsten Haupt
Nico Rosberg | Racing towards a sustainable future
He might have retired from the active life of a racing driver, but Nico Rosberg—Formula 1 World Champion in 2016—has chosen not to hang up his hat. His new ambition is to contribute to an environmentally sustainable future for all.
Rosberg (second from right) was accompanied by racing car drivers Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna.
Since his retirement from active racing, Rosberg has embarked on a career as sustainability entrepreneur and investor in green technologies and mobility start-ups. He is a founder of the Greentech Festival, a platform for events to promote new sustainable technologies; he is also an investor and shareholder in the all-electric racing series Formula E. His Rosberg X Racing team—competing in Extreme E—is one of 250 teams participating in the United Nations Sports Action for Climate Change initiative, under which sports teams are striving to reach CO2 neutrality by 2040 (even earlier than under the Paris Accords). He believes that sport has the power to connect to people. "It is a great platform to take people along on this journey to combat climate change."
Last Wednesday, Rosberg accepted the invitation of two of his racing colleagues, Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna, to tour ITER. Rosberg had only recently read about ITER in a book by Bill Gates and was intrigued by the project.
What impression did he take away from his visit? Naturally, he was drawn in by the technical prowess of the construction and assembly activities he witnessed. But most of all, he was impressed by the unique international collaboration of the 35 countries that make up ITER. "It gives me a lot of hope to see the world coming together for a project that could change humankind for a long time to come."
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