How Energy Helps Team Brady Win E1 Races & ESG Titles

Tom Brady's electric powerboating team has secured consecutive championships in the E1 series, while simultaneously claiming the inaugural Blue Impact Championship for environmental, social and governance initiatives.

It has now won both the 2024 and 2025 E1 World Championships, with the latter marking the first time the all-electric powerboat racing series has formally recognised environmental performance alongside competitive results.

The seven-time Super Bowl winner's crew achieved this through their Race for Change programme, which tied environmental impact directly to race results.

The creation of the Blue Impact Championship has introduced a new dimension to the competition with all nine teams, backed by celebrity sportspeople including LeBron James and Rafael Nadal, now directing their competitive energy towards environmental goals alongside racing performance.

E1 (Electric One) is the world's first all-electric powerboat racing championship, combining high-performance sport with environmental sustainability.

Performance-Linked environmental programmes

The Blue Impact Championship, presented by Bombay Sapphire, assessed teams on their season-long contributions to protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems.

Team Brady's winning entry centred on collecting 100 kg of plastic from the ocean for every point scored across the seven races.

After finishing top of the league table with 195 points, Team Brady removed almost 20 tonnes of plastic from the seas with the help of 4ocean Foundation.

The 100 kg-per-point commitment was calculated based on the average amount of plastic waste generated by one person annually.

The programme represented just one approach among the competing teams, whose projects spanned coral reef conservation and marine biodiversity protection.

E1 formed a jury of sustainability leaders to evaluate entries across criteria including measurable impact on local communities and ecosystems, stakeholder collaboration and programme creativity.

"When we first set out to build the team with team principals Ben and Joe, our goal was to win both on and off the water and we've done exactly that," says Tom Brady.

"Our Race for Change platform has been a driving force for real environmental impact and it was important to all of us that our commitment went beyond words."

Strategic partnerships drive impact

Team Brady built partnerships with WaterAid, OceanR and the 4ocean Foundation throughout the season.

OceanR provided eco-friendly uniforms for the crew, producing racing kits and tracksuits made using recycled plastic bottles.

WaterAid, which is set to play an even larger role in Team Brady's operations from the 2026 season, helped the crew raise awareness of access to clean drinking water around the world.

Sam Coleman, one of Team Brady's two pilots, sees the environmental outcomes as equally important to racing performance.

"Delivering tangible environmental change alongside sporting success is something I'm extremely proud of and I hope we can make an even greater positive impact in the 2026 season," Sam says.

The Blue Impact Championship represents E1's attempt to embed environmental responsibility into the competitive structure of electric powerboat racing.

To ground the sport in sustainability, E1's organisers brought in Carlos Duarte, Professor of Marine Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, as Chief Scientist.

"Team Brady's initiative sets a benchmark for what truly purpose-driven racing can achieve," says Carlos Duarte, Chief Scientist at E1.

"The Blue Impact Championship is the component of E1 where, regardless of who wins, we all win, as the collective actions of all teams are an impressive example of the potential of sports to drive meaningful, positive impact on our waters."

Embedding sustainability in competition

The award was presented at Bombay Sapphire's Laverstoke Mill distillery, located around an hour outside of London, UK.

The plant holds an 'Outstanding' BREEAM rating and recycles or converts more than 99% of its waste into energy.

Rodolfo Nervi, Vice President of Corporate Sustainability, Global Safety & Quality for Bacardi, sits on the Blue Impact jury and emphasises the alignment between the gin brand's sustainability commitments and E1's environmental mission.

"At Bombay Sapphire we take real action to help protect the planet, from sourcing all 10 botanicals from sustainably certified suppliers to achieving Wildlife Habitat Council Certification for our work to protect biodiversity at the distillery," he explains.