Cummins Adopts New Strategy to Reach Net-Zero Emissions by 2050

Cummins Inc. leaders this week introduced to employees a new strategy to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) and air quality impacts of its products, reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 in a sustainable way.

The global power leader’s Destination Zero strategy unveiled Jan. 25 calls for changes to Cummins’ products and the energy sources that power them as well as collaboration with and leadership from governments, utilities and other industries.

“Climate change is the existential crisis of our time, and we must work together to solve it,” said Tom Linebarger, Cummins Chairman and CEO, and Jennifer Rumsey, the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, in a note they co-authored to Cummins’ employees. “Our ability to deliver on our mission of making people’s lives better by powering a more prosperous world is threatened by the world’s climate challenges.”

The two leaders said Cummins has an opportunity to be part of the solution to the world’s climate challenges by pursuing reductions from both internal combustion engines and new technologies the company has brought to market.

To reach a world with net-zero emissions, it is necessary to improve the resiliency of the grid and decarbonize it with renewable energy. Developing and growing the hydrogen economy is essential toward that end. Hydrogen can be used as a fuel source to decarbonize transportation as the fuel becomes more available and less expensive. Cummins’ electrolzyer technology is  already helping increase the supply of no-carbon, green hydrogen.  

Cummins is also focusing on reducing GHG emissions that come from the internal combustion engines as part of its Destination Zero strategy. This work can achieve carbon reductions today rather than waiting until the grid is green to power technologies that rely on electric charging. 

The Destination Zero strategy takes a “well-to-wheels” approach to reducing carbon and other emissions, matching technology readiness with infrastructure readiness. Well-to-wheels emissions take into account energy use and emissions from production of a fuel source through consumption during vehicle or equipment operation. 

The new strategy drives wide-scale adoption by focusing on affordability in addition to achieving zero emissions by 2050. 

Cummins established the aspiration for zero emissions by 2050 in the company’s PLANET 2050 environmental strategy adopted in 2019. That strategy has nine goals timed to 2030, including two aligned to the Paris Climate Accords to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Destination Zero builds on PLANET 2050.