AMD 253 August 2020 American Motorcycle Dealer 253 | Page 8

Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news NEWS BRIEFS Following a February 2020 hearing that he chose not to attend, the British Pension Ombudsman has ordered disgraced former Norton CEO Stuart Garner to repay around $17.5m of misappropriated pension funds, costs and interest. Some 300 pension investors are thought to have been defrauded by Garner as he struggled for years to finance what can now be seen as a vanity project - one he never had the funds to see through. In April this year what remained of Norton Motorcycle was bought by Indian conglomerate TVS. AFT is to introduce an expert team of athlete medical professionals that will be present at all rounds of the 2020 race season. The team will provide critical on-site medical care to competitors at no cost to its recipients. AFT has contracted Dr. Ray Rossi, an FIM-certified doctor with decades of experience in motorcycle racing, to provide a group of highly trained, specialized physicians to serve as a rapid-response team. Equipped with the proper medical equipment, a rapidresponse UTV (provided by American Honda) based team will lead the on-track response to incidents where medical aid may be needed. In order to pay homage to Lilly Farrow, who ran the dealership as a single mother through the Great Depression and a couple of wars, as well as to recognize the new ownership family, AD Farrow H-D of Columbus, Ohio, (the oldest Harley dealership in the world) is now FARROW Harley-Davidson. American Honda Motor Co. has reported that its sales in May more than doubled over May 2019, with on-highway sales +103% and off-roaders up by a massive +172%. BMW North America, Suzuki and Yamaha have also all reported strong sales through the health emergency, in Suzuki and Yamaha's cases especially of their off-road machines - two and four wheelers. Harley is on a Mission - an 'ESG' Quest In the spirit of the new "touchy feely" corporately compliant and diverse creature that Jochen Zeitz' Harley-Davidson looks destined to continue morphing into, earlier this year (before the Q1 fiscals and before the changes at the top) the Motor Company released a 2019 Sustainability Report. It is easy at this still early stage in trying to understand the "unknowns" of our environmentally impacted futures to still be dismissive, cynical even, about such statements of best intent, but much harder to be open-minded and prepared to look at both sides of any given argument, and this report is 47 pages of, frankly, really rather interesting material... Harley-Davidson " is c o n t i n u o u s l y committed to doing our part to preserve and renew the freedom to ride and build a sustainable future. The 2019 Sustainability Report highlights specific efforts made toward that commitment. Harley-Davidson is not only helping to build the next generation of riders, but is proud to do so in a sustainable way." That is quite a manifesto. We here at AMD Magazine are not ourselves aware whether or not such a report has been produced by Harley before (either way, a fact fail - bad on us!), but who cannot have been aware that, as Chairman of the board's 2011 formed Sustainability Committee (now 'environmental profit & loss methodology' called the Board Brand & Sustainability Committee), acting President/CEO and newly minted long-term Chairman Jochen Zeitz' fingerprints have been all over Harley's journey of self-discovery towards a bright new green brand identity for a long time - not least through there actually being a Sustainability Committee at all. Harley says that "throughout this report we highlight 2019 accomplishments in Environmental Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Governance ["ESG" as it has become known apparently]. At Harley-Davidson, all three of these areas ladder up to simply Sustainability. Driving toward a more sustainable future Harley- Davidson. "On that quest, we are committed to doing our part to preserve and renew the freedom to ride and to build a sustainable future for the company. Sustainability goes beyond the environment – it includes our commitment to governance and how we positively impact the communities and stakeholders we serve. "We understand that to attract the next generation of riders, we need to be clear about what we stand for. That includes our approach to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters." In his opening remarks in the report, Zeitz points to three key pillars that underpin its approach to the future, and to achieving the objectives laid out in the 'More Roads' plan… • In line with our 2027 objective to Grow Our Business Without Growing Our Environmental Impact, we are taking actions to address climate change, and, with this report, we are setting forth our Climate Change Statement and our commitment to renewable energy. • We are focused on improving our employees’ well-being, as well as the lives of people in the communities where we do business, through things like our industry-leading safety program, our Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, employee volunteering and the work of the Harley- Davidson Foundation. • In addition, ensuring that Harley- Davidson is a well-run company is important to our ongoing success, and effective governance and accountability is non-negotiable. The report goes on to state that through its annual planning processes, Harley-Davidson "assesses its strategic, operational and financial risks. We have also conducted a full value chain assessment (which is updated periodically) to determine how our business impacts the environment." The company summarizes the "material environmental impacts of our business" as… - motorcycles in use (emissions from gasoline production and combustion) - materials in our products (emissions from energy use and land use impacts to extract, form and process material into parts as well as waste generation) - impacts from our operations (emissions from energy use and waste generation) WORDS BY Robin Bradley / Publisher [email protected] "Along with our unwavering commitment to environmental compliance, we are taking actions to address these impacts" - as detailed in the report. Addressing its already often stated ambition to "grow business without growing the environmental impact," Harley states that "This objective guides the focus of our environmental sustainability efforts. We strive to reduce our environmental impact across all aspects of our business, and our focus areas are based on a full value chain analysis of our environmental impact. "Our most material impacts on the environment stem from the use of 'material environmental impacts' gasoline in our motorcycles and from the materials used in our products. Our own operations and facilities also contribute to our impacts through energy consumption and waste generation. "We have established several goals to achieve our overall objective, including a renewable energy goal, which was set in 2019. Climate change caused by increased levels of greenhouse gases creates risks not only to Harley- Davidson’s business model and operations but more broadly to some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. "As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other expert bodies have identified, climate change is contributing to sea level rise, extreme weather conditions and resource shortages. "As the world’s largest producer of heavyweight gasoline-powered motorcycles, we have prioritized the following actions to address climate change… > 8 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - AUGUST 2020 www.AMDchampionship.com