Cummins CEO: U.S. needs to put a ‘cost on carbon’ to meet Paris Climate Accords

Jim Cramer, host of the popular show, Mad Money, thinks that hydrogen just may be the cleaner, greener fuel source that the world’s been craving. He recently spoke to Tom Linebarger, Chairman and CEO of Cummins Inc., about hydrogen’s role in the path to zero emissions and Cummins’ role in expanding access to hydrogen.

In the conversation, Linebarger emphasized that innovation is not new at Cummins. Since the early 1970s and in alignment with the Clean Air Act, the company has employed a number of new technologies to improve emissions from diesel engines – but it’s the next level of innovation, low carbon technologies, that are now necessary for the planet and for our markets.

While Cummins will play an important role, it’s a task so big that even its 58,000 global employees can’t do it alone. 

“We need partners. I need to say that as clearly as I can. There is so much to do here. There’s infrastructure to build. There’s systems to build out,” Linebarger explained. “We’re trying to partner in as many places as we can because there is so much to do to get this green economy going, and hydrogen has so much potential. We need everybody’s oar in the water.”

In addition to collective action by industry, governments and policymakers will need to drive change. One of the most critical policy developments being discussed is an economy-wide price on carbon.

“We’re going to have to put a cost on carbon if we’re really going to make the level of investments we need to at the speed we need to make sure we can meet the [goals established in the] Paris Climate Accords,” he added.

Learn about one of Cummins’ most recent investments in green hydrogen production in Spain.