Extreme E has long championed its climate activism and has announced a lead Professor from Cambridge to lead its Scientific Committee.

Professor Peter Wadhams has been appointed in the role and will focus on the series’ climate research and education programme.

Professor Wadhams is in the Dept of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and is a former Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute and is a world leader on sea ice change and has overseen 55 Arctic Expeditions.

He is very well placed to lead the climate position of the series.

“Extreme E is a highly ambitious and exciting project which will use sport, specifically electric racing, to increase attention to remote environments on the front-line of the climate emergency and the challenges facing our planet which we simply cannot ignore.” said Professor Wadhams.

“I feel very honoured to be playing a key role in a project which has been solely developed to shine a light on the issues affecting the future health of our planet, and to help educate people about the real solutions that we can all adopt.”

Professor Wadhams is one of five leading scientists who will be associated with the series for each specific region of the planet.

Wadhams is the first and the lead and will head up the laboratory side of the mission on Extreme E’s very own St Helena.

He went on to say “The climate issues Extreme E plans to highlight are all linked to the central issue of global warming and the rapid increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere, which have reached record, devastating rates, especially over the past decade”

“With more than 30 percent of the planet’s emissions coming from transportation, this sector is a huge contributor to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. It’s a fact that more people watch sport than watch scientific documentaries, so I fully support Extreme E’s platform of using motorsport to showcase electric vehicles and promote their adoption as an impactful solution for our planet’s future health.”

CEO of Extreme E Alejandro Agag said “I am very pleased to officially welcome Professor Wadhams on board as our Arctic Scientist and Head of the Extreme E Scientific Committee. We are truly honoured to have such a respected and knowledgeable mind advising our series.

“The Extreme E Scientific Committee is the vital bedrock of our series as it supports the very reason we designed this championship, to build climate awareness and accelerate the adoption of renewable energy vehicles in the fight to help lower the planet’s CO2 levels.

“Professor Wadhams has been a staunch advocate in the work we are doing here, from the moment he was chosen to advise on our Greenland location selection process. From there, he has continued to guide our scientific direction and I feel very confident he will lead our Scientific Committee with great success.”

More scientists will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Coverage is due to start in January 2021 with the Dakar stage in Senegal.

The provisional calendar is as follows:

23-24 January: Lac Rose, Dakar, Senegal

5-6 March: Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia

14-15 May: Kali Gandaki Valley, Mustang District, Nepal

28-29 August: Kangerlussuaq, Greenland

30-31 October: Santarém, Pará, Brazil