two people backpacking in the mountains

Environment

We are committed to doing our part to ensure we protect the environment, not only for our employees, but for everyone who wants the opportunity to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. Climate change is a global issue that impacts everyone. We create stronger, more impactful solutions when we work together with other like-minded organizations. That is why Winnebago Industries has set aspirational sustainability goals to preserve fresh water, significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfills and ensure the products we produce have a green environmental footprint.

Environment goals

Waste

GOAL: Achieve a Zero Waste to landfill target of 90% diversion of waste from landfills by 2030

We have been tracking favorably towards our goal including two of our sites in Iowa that have been landfill free for the past 12 months. We continue to explore innovative opportunities to further reduce our waste to landfill.  We will bring that information into our 2025 CR report. 

Water

GOAL: Reduce freshwater use by 30% by 2030 

We continue to look at our Aqueduct water analysis results for ways to minimize water impacts in those areas of our operations suffering from the greatest impacts of water scarcity. 

Emissions

GOAL: Reduce absolute GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2030

We have continued our membership with the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, aimed at achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050 and are in the process to have our SBTi goals verified and approved in 2024. 

Barletta Boats recently added a third solar installation atop its new facility, bringing their solar array energy production to nearly 1,500,000 kWh and reducing CO2 emission by approximately 1,300 metric tons in 2023. Our existing solar installs to date reduce over 6,000 metric tons of Co2e each year and we are evaluating further expansion in 2024 and beyond.

Product Stewardship

GOAL: Build a lifecycle assessment process to address upstream and downstream environmental impacts for our product lines by 2030

We built on the pioneering development of our all-electric specialty vehicles and eRV2 concept vehicle with the introduction of Chris-Craft’s first zero-emission, all-electric concept boat.  To be the best producer of marine and RV products we will shift to evaluating and improving life cycle impacts in our largest scope 3 area – in-use phase emissions.  Our acquisition of Lithionics, a premier lithium-ion battery solutions provider, affirms our commitment scope 3 GHG reduction. 

Our new Advanced Technology Innovation Center in Minnesota will focus on incubating and prototyping new technology applications across a wide range of feature categories, including material science and circularity.  We are excited to continue developing supplier relationships that allow us to minimize our products carbon footprint and evaluate alternative materials that aid in design for sustainability (DfS).

Sustainability Initiatives