Winnebago Industries published its 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report highlighting the company’s progress efforts to “build a sustainable and equitable future.”
“At Winnebago Industries, we want the outdoors to continue to be a place to find health, happiness and connection, so we hold close the imperative to protect and preserve our environment for future generations,” said Winnebago Industries President and CEO Michael Happe. “Through the hard work, dedication and innovation of team members across our family of premium brands including Winnebago, Grand Design, Chris-Craft, Newmar and Barletta, we are pleased to continue to make meaningful progress toward our ambitious environmental and social goals.”
This is the fifth year Winnebago has released its corporate responsibility report. The report aligns with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Universal Standards and features an index aligned with recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TFCD), as well as the company’s first Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) index.
Highlights of Winnebago Industries’ progress include:
- Submitting the companies first CDP Climate Change Questionnaire, representing another large step toward enhancing their climate-related disclosures.
- Progressing toward the company’s waste reduction goal, improving to 62% diversion from landfills across the enterprise.
- Initiating a strategic partnership with The Nature Conservancy to promote conservation and protect the outdoors.
- A 20% reduction in the company’s absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions since 2020.
- Reduced total recordable incident rates (TRIR) by 16% to 4.93, compared to FY 2022.
- Provided more than $3 million in financial, product and volunteer contributions to the communities Winnebago Industries serves in FY 2023. An increase of 20-times since 2016.
- Opened the Winnebago Industries Advanced Technology Innovation Center that focuses on incubating and prototyping new technology applications across a wide range of categories, including alternative energy management and autonomy.
- Introducing new innovations that will support sustainability efforts including the all-electric concept boat from Chris-Craft, further upgrades to an all-electric RV, the eRV2, and acquisition of lithium-battery manufacturer Lithionics Battery.
- Increased board gender and racial diversity from 14% women and no directors of color in 2015 to 30% women and 20% directors of color in 2023.
Following an intensive ESG materiality assessment in 2018 and the evolving footprint of the company’s operations, Winnebago Industries’ corporate responsibility efforts are currently focused on nine priorities: ethics and integrity; safety; people; diversity, equity, and inclusion; community; waste; emissions; product stewardship; and water.
“Our corporate responsibility efforts are the cornerstone of our sustainable business growth and long-term profitability, and they fuel our ultimate purpose to help people explore the outdoors, enabling extraordinary experiences as they travel, live, work and play,” said Stacy Bogart, Winnebago Industries’ general counsel and corporate responsibility lead. “While these priorities continue to be relevant to our business, we also recognize that as our footprint expands, so does our responsibility. We plan to refresh our materiality assessment in 2024.”
Learn more and read the Winnebago Industries 2023 report here.