Cummins’ progress on 2030 environmental sustainability goals

Sustainability is not new to Cummins Inc. In the past two decades, we have accelerated our efforts and set public-facing goals to drive progress. Cummins’  environmental sustainability strategy includes nine goals timed to 2030 and aspirational targets for 2050.
 

31% GHG emissions reduction from facilities and operations since baseline year

Cummins has made progress towards its 2030 goal to reduce absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from facilities and operations by 50%. As of 2023, the company has achieved a 31% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions compared to the 2018 baseline, eliminating 314,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e).

This achievement was supported by over $18.8 million invested in completing 267 GHG reduction projects in 2023. These projects are estimated to save more than 29,951 metric tons of CO₂e annually. Key projects included 24 onsite solar projects, adoption of LED lighting, HVAC upgrades and compressed air improvements.

Partnerships for Scope 3 absolute lifetime GHG emissions reduction

Meeting the 2030 goal to reduce product Scope 3 absolute lifetime GHG emissions from newly sold products by 25% is a function of technology, market behavior, volume, and product mix. Given the impact of highly influential pacing factors and increased growth in engine volumes, the 2023 emissions increased from the baseline. Despite the challenges associated with slower adoption rates of lower-carbon technology solutions, Cummins remains resolute that the Destination Zero strategy is the right one. 

Projects with customers have saved 3.4 billion gallons of fuel and avoided 34.4 million metric tons of CO2e

In total, customers have saved over $13.5 billion from products-in-use fuel economy projects since 2014.

Efforts include customized engine parameters, optimized calibration settings, upgrading parts and leveraging insights through Cummins’ digital platforms to improve fuel economy. 

In 2023, a large fleet operator partnered with Cummins to manage some critical engine parameters, like cruise control and Smart Coast. By making small tweaks to these features, the customer has achieved a 1% fuel economy improvement, resulting in 2 million gallons per year in fuel saved and 20,000 metric tons of CO2 e reductions. This has saved the customer $8.6 million in fuel costs with no negative operational impacts
37 customer projects were completed in 2023, bringing our total since 2014 to 760 carbon reduction and cost-saving projects.

Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions reduced 35% since baseline year

Cummins continues to work towards its goal of cutting emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from painting and coating operations by 50% by 2030. As of 2023, the company achieved a 35% reduction in VOC emissions from its 2018 baseline.

Efforts have included eliminating paint from select engines at the Columbus Mid-Range Engine Plant (CMEP) and leveraging advanced materials like aluminum and composites to maintain durability without coatings. The transition to waterborne paints at the Daventry Engine Plant in the U.K. has yielded impressive results, cutting VOC emissions by 69% year-over-year. Additionally, the Jamestown Engine Plant has optimized its painting processes, adopting more efficient paint guns and robotic programming to reduce waste and enhance efficiency.

Creating a circular lifecycle plan for every part to use less, use better, use again. In 2023, Cummins implemented a digital design standard that informs product designers of each part’s lifecycle management intent. This standard makes lifecycle planning for every part possible, given the many products Cummins designs around the world.

 The company launched its Design for Sustainability center in 2021 with dedicated resources to support material use optimization. The center provides coaching and training resources to help design engineers in their efforts. Projects completed in 2023 in collaboration with the center are expected to avoid close to $6 million in material cost and save 8394 metric tons of CO2 e over five years.

11.2% less waste in facilities and operations as a percentage of revenue since baseline year

Cummins’ circular approach to waste is focused on moving waste up the waste management hierarchy to divert waste from landfills, incineration and energy recovery methods and in favor of reuse, recycling and composting management methods. 

Cummins invested more than $11 million in 2023 to complete 154 waste reduction projects, avoiding the generation and disposal of more than 11 million pounds (5 million kg) of waste. This included a significant investment in launching the company’s returnable packaging program in North America, which was deployed to nine Cummins manufacturing facilities.

Addressing single-use plastics

In 2023, Cummins launched a single-use plastic elimination roadmap focused on dining facilities to 64 sites globally. The roadmap offers tools and resources to help sites eliminate single-use plastics while allowing for customizable solutions. Employee involvement is key to driving success in reducing single-use plastics across global operations and the company aims to expand these efforts to other amenity areas and newly acquired sites.

Addressing product packaging plastics, the Packaging Functional Excellence team devoted their efforts to the development of a packaging data management system. This system, which was successfully launched globally in early 2024, enables the capture of vital packaging information used to report on the company’s environmental goals and bolsters the returnable packaging program.

Water consumption reduced 14.7% from baseline year. 

Cummins’ water use goal is an absolute reduction of 30% by 2030. In 2023, Cummins water use was approximately 973 million gallons, a 14.7% reduction from the 2030 goal’s baseline year of 2018.

Cummins used 1,140 million gallons of water in 2018, so a 30% reduction means reaching a consumption target of about 798 million gallons annually by 2030. To achieve this, Cummins is focused on work such as eliminating  water use where possible, optimizing manufacturing processes, and implementing preventative maintenance programs. 

Cummins’ Water Works program is active in 15 countries

Cummins Water Works ended 2023 having helped more than 1.2 million people and having generated approximately 6.9 billion gallons in annual water benefits since its 2021 launch. In 2023 , the program produced 1 billion gallons of net water benefits, surpassing the company’s global water consumption of 972.3 million gallons.

Cummins Water Works is active in 15 countries, including the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, India, and China. Notable initiatives include a partnership with The Nature Conservancy to improve water quality in the Mississippi River Basin, restoring wetlands in Belgium, and supporting water conservation projects in China.