The Honda Formula One team trumpeted their environmentally friendly credentials yesterday when they announced that their new cars for this season are to feature a huge image of the Earth uncorrupted by commercial logos.

Despite running racing cars that do little more than four miles to the gallon and campaigning in a sport regarded by its critics as one of the most extravagant polluters, Honda unveiled their new livery with a fanfare at the Natural History Museum in London.

The Japanese manufacturer described the new look, which will feature on cars driven by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, as a “call to action” directed at race fans and the public to join Honda’s “commitment to help address environmental issues facing mankind”.

The cars will have no sponsors logos but will instead sport a picture of the Earth made up of thousands of pixels that will contain the names of people who are prepared to pledge life-style changes to help to limit global warming. The pledges will be made via a website, myearthdream.com, and are designed to promote the idea, as the team put it, that “our car is your car”.

While critics accused Honda and other motor-racing teams of “burning up the Earth” with all the carbon emissions they produce, either racing or travelling to races, Honda insisted that they are meeting the challenge of global warming head-on. Nick Fry, the team principal, said: “We’re quite aware it’s a potentially contradictory thing to do. But the number of people we can reach is immense.”

Fry said that the ground-breaking decision to do away with the traditional car logos had been taken in recognition of the scale of the threat to the environment posed by global warming. This is caused, in large part, by carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere through the use of fossil fuels.

“Climate change is probably the single biggest issue facing the global community and F1 is not immune from it,” he said. “We believe that F1, with its huge global profile and cutting-edge technology, can play an important role in not only highlighting the issues, but also playing our part in developing solutions. We hope that in raising awareness and highlighting the issues we will encourage members of the public to come together and help take on the challenge of climate change.”

Button, who, together with Barrichello, flew back from testing in Bahrain to be at the launch, was keen to lend his support to the initiative. “The people who work in F1 and the F1 viewers are probably the most difficult people to turn around into making a difference, so this campaign is important,” Button said. “It looks very different – no sponsors on the car. The idea is to raise awareness of global issues that we have and hopefully it’s going to make a difference.

“At the moment, F1 is carbon neutral, but that’s not where we want to be – it should be carbon positive. But maybe in the future it will get there.” The move by Honda will be seen by critics of the sport as an acknowledgment of the questionable future of Formula One in an age when the issue of global warming may make the notion of cars burning up petrol as part of a spectator sport unacceptable. Honda apart, Formula One has made moves towards reducing carbon emissions, with new regulations scheduled to come in from 2009 requiring cars to carry energy recovery technology.

Honda’s high-profile launch was criticised by some environmental campaigners, although Friends of the Earth and Green-peace held back from open condemnation.

Car manufacturers have just fought off attempts by the European Commission to introduce tough carbon emission targets. New cars in the UK average 169.4 grams of carbon dioxide emitted per kilometre, with Honda only mid-table in the European league of manufacturers with an average of 166g per km. By comparison, the RA107 Formula One car that Button and Barrichello will drive in 17 grands prix this year is estimated to emit a minimum of 1,500g per km.

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