Harley-Davidson's Eco Story

What's your company's definition of sustainability and why is it important to you? Harley-Davidson's sustainability vision is to "preserve and renew the freedom to ride" and one of our long-term company objectives is to grow our business without growing our environmental impact. As we build the next generation of Harley-Davidson riders, we are taking on a broader sense of responsibility for our environment and the societies in which we ride, live and work.

What are the most important sustainability issues your company deals with? We take seriously our responsibility as the market leader to reduce the impact of our products and to operate with transparency and authenticity. Our environmental sustainability priorities are fuel economy, materials in our products and energy use for our operations as these our are most significant impact areas. Sustainable thinking is no longer a nice to have, its increasingly seen as a competitive advantage. Tell us how sustainable thinking is helping move your company forward.

We expect the focus we place on reducing the environmental impact of our products and operations will lead to new levels of innovation that will benefit current and future Harley-Davidson customers alike.

How has your company reduced waste across your operations? Has it paid off for you financially?

For our operations, we focus both on reducing the amount of waste per unit produced as well as reducing waste to landfill. Less waste generation is the most direct financial benefit, regardless of how the waste stream is managed, and in many instances improving the segregation of waste materials for additional recycling opportunities has also had a neutral to positive financial result.

How do you engage your staff to implement your sustainability plans? Employees across the company are engaged in driving our sustainability priorities. Like many companies, our initial focus beginning many years ago was on waste generation and compliance in our manufacturing plants. We deliberately built sustainability into our manufacturing operating system and we have naturally evolved to now focusing on energy consumption. On the product side, we similarly are building a more sustainable mindset into our development processes as we drive long-term fuel economy and materials goals.

In a nutshell, how will you be rocking the green in the coming five years?

Harley-Davidson will be rocking it hard with fantastic products that deliver on the promise of personal freedom. To preserve and renew the freedom to ride, we simply must manage our impact on the planet and in the coming years we will continuously build and improve our capabilities to do so.