Yachting Art Magazine

Having delved into the particularly dense 60 pages of Brunswick’s 2025 sustainability report (Boston Whaler, Sea Ray, Navan, Bayliner, Quicksilver, Navico…), the editorial team at ActuNautique has reached a clear conclusion: contrary to the image often portrayed of an America that is slowing down on climate issues, certain major American companies are actively continuing their environmental and industrial investments.

And the world’s leading player in the boating and recreational boating sector provides a particularly concrete example of this.

The US group, which owns more than 60 brands, employs around 14,000 people in 26 countries and generates revenue of 5.4 billion dollars. Above all, its report highlights one thing: at Brunswick, the environmental transition is no longer presented as a regulatory constraint or a public relations exercise, but as an industrial, technological and economic issue that is fully integrated into the group’s strategy.

What immediately strikes the reader is the level of technical and industrial precision in the information published. This is a far cry from the usual marketing rhetoric found in ESG reports.

A sharp fall in direct emissions

The first key finding concerns carbon emissions.

Brunswick reports that it has reduced its combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 48 per cent since 2022, far exceeding its initial target of a 30 per cent reduction by 2025.

To understand this performance, it is essential to clearly distinguish between the different scopes used in international carbon reporting.

Scope 1 refers to direct emissions produced by the company itself: the combustion of natural gas, diesel, petrol or propane in the group’s factories, industrial equipment or logistics operations.

In 2025, Brunswick’s Scope 1 emissions stood at 83,177 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. This level remained relatively stable compared with 2024. This shows that the group continues to rely heavily on energy-intensive industrial processes, particularly in engine production and testing activities.

Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions linked to the consumption of electricity purchased by the company.

Brunswick distinguishes between two calculation methods here.

Under the so-called ‘location-based’ method, which takes into account the actual electricity mix of local grids, Scope 2 emissions amount to 91,509 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

However, under the ‘market-based’ method, which incorporates renewable electricity contracts and green energy certificates purchased by the group, they fall to just 18,407 tonnes.

It is this second method that enables Brunswick to report a dramatic reduction in its combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions: these fall from 195,505 tonnes in 2022 to 101,584 tonnes in 2025.

In other words, the group is gradually reducing its reliance on carbon-based electricity through large-scale renewable energy contracts and its investments in solar power.

US companies continue to invest

in renewables

This is probably one of the most interesting aspects of the report: it shows the extent to which certain major US companies are continuing their energy transition regardless of fluctuations in federal policy.

Brunswick reports that 74 per cent of its global electricity consumption is now covered by renewable energy.

The group currently operates eleven sites fitted with solar panels.

Two new installations were commissioned in 2025.

But above all, Brunswick is involved in several major private energy projects that are particularly emblematic of the current US energy transition.

The largest of these is the Hornet solar project in Texas, developed by Vesper Energy. This 600-megawatt facility is set to generate enough electricity to power around 150,000 American households.

Brunswick is also benefiting from the Ledgeview community solar project in Wisconsin.

This energy model is highly indicative of current trends in the United States: whilst the political debate on climate change remains extremely polarised, some of America’s major industrial groups are stepping up their private agreements for the supply of renewable energy.

The real issue: Scope 3

But the report becomes particularly interesting when it addresses the central issue for the boating sector: Scope 3.

And Brunswick is not trying to sidestep the problem.

Scope 3 encompasses all indirect emissions generated by the company’s value chain: raw materials, suppliers, transport, business travel, waste, but above all the use of the products sold.

In Brunswick’s case, it is obviously the use of engines and boats by recreational boaters that constitutes the main challenge.

In 2025, the group’s Scope 3 emissions will still amount to 2.665 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

That is colossal.

And, above all, it represents more than 25 times the company’s direct and indirect emissions combined.

The report highlights a fundamental point: 78 per cent of Scope 3 emissions stem from the use of the products sold.

Brunswick applies the international rules of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol here: when an engine is sold, the group immediately accounts for all the carbon emissions that engine will produce throughout its entire lifespan.

This is a key factor in understanding the environmental challenges facing the boating industry.

Even if factories become more energy-efficient, even if the electricity is renewable, and even if packaging is recycled, the sector’s main climate impact today remains the fuel consumption of the engines subsequently used on the water for years to come.

Brunswick therefore implicitly acknowledges that the genuine decarbonisation of the boating industry depends first and foremost on advances in propulsion technologies.

The group is focusing on innovation rather than on reducing consumption

And this is where the American approach becomes clear.

The report makes virtually no mention of reducing usage or scaling back.

Brunswick’s strategy is based primarily on technological innovation, energy efficiency and improved performance.

The group launched more than 100 new products in 2025.

Among them, AutoCaptain is undoubtedly the group’s technological showcase.

This autonomous navigation system enables the boat to automatically perform certain complex manoeuvres, such as mooring and manoeuvring at low speed.

Behind this spectacular innovation lies a very clear industrial rationale: to make boating simpler, smoother, more energy-efficient and more accessible.

The group is also working intensively on the hydrodynamic optimisation of hulls to reduce fuel consumption.

Several new models incorporate technologies designed to improve the boats’ energy efficiency.

Industrial transformation is already underway

Above all, the report shows that the changes no longer concern only the end products.

The entire industrial chain is gradually being transformed.

Brunswick has now incorporated life-cycle assessments into all its product development processes.

In practical terms, every new project must now include:

• a comprehensive carbon assessment;
• a study of material circularity;
• consideration of reparability;
• an end-of-life management strategy.

This development is significant as it reflects a profound shift in industrial culture.

Sustainability is becoming an integral consideration right from the product design stage.

The report also details several very concrete examples.

A project carried out between the Navico Group and the marine engine development division led to a complete overhaul of the logistics packaging for an electronic sensor.

A simple consequence of this was that the number of units transported per pallet increased elevenfold.

The result: a reduction of nearly 90 per cent in emissions linked to the transport of this component.

Hundreds of small-scale industrial optimisations

This is probably the most interesting aspect of the report.

The environmental transition does not rely solely on a few large-scale, spectacular projects.

It is driven primarily by hundreds of small-scale industrial optimisations.

In Wisconsin, a heat recovery system installed in a factory now allows the re-use of energy lost from industrial furnaces.

In Mexico, the automatic shutdown of equipment overnight reduces energy consumption in a production area by 13 per cent.

Production teams have also reduced paint wastage, optimised the cutting of composite materials and streamlined logistics flows from Asia.

These initiatives may seem modest when considered individually.

But taken together, they yield very significant industrial and environmental gains.

The rise of recycled materials

The report also places a strong emphasis on materials.

Several of the group’s brands are accelerating their move away from treated timber in favour of recycled composites.

Lund now uses panels made from recycled plastic bottles.

In total, around 3.7 million bottles were incorporated into the brand’s industrial processes in 2025.

Across the group, several million more plastic bottles were also recycled into composite materials used for certain boat structures.

The aim is twofold:

• to reduce the use of sensitive materials such as treated timber;
• to improve the durability and lightness of boats.

For behind the environmental issue lies an energy challenge too: a lighter boat consumes less fuel.

A growing focus on the circular economy

The group is also gradually developing a circular economy approach.

The report details, in particular, the work carried out on marine catalytic converters.

Teams in the marine engine development division have developed a process enabling the recovery of up to 96 per cent of the palladium and 85 per cent of the rhodium contained in certain end-of-life catalytic converters.

These precious metals are then reintroduced into new components.

The same approach applies to electric batteries.

Brunswick is gradually establishing return, repair, reuse and recycling schemes for its battery systems, particularly to anticipate future European regulations.

A highly technical, highly industrial report

What ultimately stands out from these 60 pages is the level of maturity achieved by certain major American industrial groups on environmental issues.

Brunswick is no longer content merely to announce commitments.

The group now measures, audits, quantifies and manages its environmental indicators with an almost financial approach.

The report details precisely:

• carbon emissions;
• calculation methods;
• waste;
• water consumption;
• solvent emissions;
• recycling rates;
• regulatory audits;
• climate risks;
• governance processes.

Environmental issues are now monitored directly at board level.

The group also has specific policies on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and ESG risks.

An American reality often misunderstood in Europe

Ultimately, this report offers, above all, an interesting insight into the current evolution of American industrial capitalism.

Whilst the political debate on climate change remains extremely polarised, certain major American companies are continuing to invest in energy efficiency, renewables, recycled materials and emissions reduction.

Not out of activism.

But because they now consider that industrial competitiveness will also depend on these measures.

Brunswick obviously does not claim to have resolved the environmental contradictions of the boating industry, a sector still largely dependent on internal combustion engines.

But the group demonstrates that a heavy, global and energy-intensive industry can nevertheless accelerate its transformation in practical terms.

And this is probably the main lesson of this report: whilst American politics may sometimes falter, part of the industry continues to move forward.