Team Origin have announced that it will make its bid for the next America’s Cup under the banner ‘Race for Change’ – to focus attention on the need to combat climate change.

Team Origin has joined forces with the Carbon Trust as its environmental partner – the world leading expert in carbon reduction – to provide practical advice to TeamOrigin and its commercial partners on how to reduce their carbon emissions.

Founded in 2007 by Sir Keith Mills, Team Origin has spent the last six months developing a strategy that harnesses the power of sport to create awareness of the urgent need to tackle environmental issues.

It will be the first major sports team to put its weight behind a climate change platform in this way and, whilst it continues its quest to bring the America’s Cup back to Great Britain, it also aims to inspire positive action on cutting carbon – from businesses, consumers and the wider world of sport.

Sir Keith explained: “We are thrilled to announce Race for Change backed by our partnership with the Carbon Trust. The sport of sailing provides an intrinsic fit with the growing environmental consciousness of today. Race for Change will use the power of sport to communicate an important and urgent message about the need to reduce carbon emissions. We hope to attract commercial partners that see this as an opportunity to showcase and build on their own commitments to the sustainability agenda.”

Mike Sanderson, Team Director, added: “Today marks an important step forward for Team Origin. Implementation of the Race For Change programme needs to start straight away. We are announcing today our intention to get back on the water for 2009/10 with a series of training and race events in our build up to the 34th America’s Cup. We have already started analysing previous America’s Cup team operations to identify past carbon emissions and work out how Team Origin can improve its own efficiency. Soon we will start the process of specifying our carbon policy, setting and managing carbon emission targets and communicating progress as we ramp up our activities and operations.”

Ben Ainslie, four times Olympic medallist and the skipper of Team Origin, commented: “It is very important for us to make a contribution towards tackling climate change. The unique nature of our sport shows how we harness the elements of nature to create excellence in performance. Obviously for me this is also all about winning the America’s Cup for Great Britain. We want to win smart – to prove the competitive advantage of a sustainable approach, bring the Cup back home and, at the same time, deliver an important message to the world.”