g YETIImpact.

Illumination Index Score
12/22

Greenwashing Risk
High · 7/12

Credibility Gap
Moderate · 5/10

Key finding · Brand identity substitution

  • YETI built its entire identity around the outdoors. The kind of imagery that makes sustainability feel implicit. it gives us the idea that “of course a company that loves the wild protects it.”

  • YETI removed its Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) commitment after it expired, then continued referencing it in the present tense. The commitment disappeared, but YETI’s words remained.

  • Its Scope 3 emissions, which is the the full footprint of everything YETI makes, ships, and sells. Those emissions sit 143% above its 2020 baseline. Its own target requires a 27% reduction. This means that the gap between where YETI is and where it previously committed to be at, is expanding.

  • #KeepTheWildWild is a hashtag. It cannot be audited. It has no baseline, no target, no third-party verification. It is a feeling dressed as a commitment.

  • I would label this as brand identity substitution; this is when a company's aesthetic masks the company’s data.

References

Net Zero Tracker. (n.d.). YETI Holdings . Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, Oxford Net Zero, NewClimate Institute, & Data-Driven EnviroLab. https://zerotracker.net

Science Based Targets initiative. (n.d.). SBTi target dashboard . https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action

YETI Holdings. (2024). ESG report 2024 [PDF]. https://www.yeti.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-YetiSharedLibrary/default/v1be354cba656db81176a5390d60d71349eccb147/pdfs/YETI_ESG_Report_2024_Final.pdf

YETI Holdings. (2024). Annual report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Form 10-K). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://investors.yeti.com/financial-information/sec-filings

YETI Holdings. (2025). 2025 sustainability report [PDF]. https://www.yeti.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-YetiSharedLibrary/default/v9e03f996aaf4a87b74fc89fdcb7f0d8eee53cc4a/pdfs/YETI_Sustainability_Report_2025.pdf

YETI Holdings. (n.d.). Keep the wild, wild: Our commitment to people, product, and places [Sustainability hub]. https://www.yeti.com/wild.html

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