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By Tony Connelly, Sports Marketing Reporter

September 14, 2016 | 3 min read

Formula E is advocating the potential which its electric car technology can have in building a more sustainable environmental future with a new campaign aiming to draw attention to the escalating threat posed by the melting of the ice caps to global sea levels.

The electric car racing series showcased race-winning driver, Lucas di Grassi, performing a series of impressive manoeuvres in a Formula E car on an ice cap in the Arctic circle.

The event was captured in a series of impactful short films designed to raise awareness that the amount of ice breaking away from the Arctic has reached historic new levels.

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Formula E partnered with Julius Baer, Visa, DHL, Schaeffler, The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Mumm Champagne House for the exhibition which is a continuation of its commitment to showcasing the ability of electric car technology to act as a key part of a more environmentally sustainable future.

“I have four children and the future of the planet depends on how we can control the effect that human life is having on the environment and the climate,” said Formula E chief executive Alejandro Agag.

“That is why I think climate change is very important to address, to control, to face, and everyone can do something. We do something for motorsport, other people can do something from whatever they do in their lives.”

Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag (L) and driver Lucas Di Grassi

Lucas di Grassi added: “It was such a beautiful, peaceful place. To come here and see how huge the ice cap is and how the effect of global warming is changing it, melting it, gives me a completely different understanding of what we are doing with Formula E and the importance of driving electric cars.”

In order to learn more about the effects of the melting ice cap, Formula E has teamed up with Southampton University, and during the trip a tracking beacon was placed upon an iceberg that had broken away from the ice sheet.

This will help to advance the research into the behaviour of these ice sheets in the open ocean, and the tracking device will allow climate scientists and fans alike to understand more about the graceful journey they undertake as they return back to the sea.

A special 48-minute documentary looking at every aspect of how the event was put together has been commissioned and will be premiered at COP22, which takes place in Marrakesh, Morocco on November 13 this year. Formula E will also be in the North African country at the same time for the inaugural Marrakesh ePrix.

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