Company posts first TCFD report on climate actions

The company’s TCFD report joins Cummins reports aligned to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) in addition to Cummins' Sustainability Progress Reports. The company has been reporting annually on its sustainability work since 2003.

NEW REPORT'S ROOTS

Cummins’ 27-page TCFD report details the company’s strategy to address climate change, governance at Cummins for overseeing the company’s climate-related initiatives, its structure to manage climate-related risks and the metrics and targets the company uses to evaluate its impact on climate issues.

The new report borrows significantly from PLANET 2050, Cummins' environmental sustainability strategy. PLANET 2050 includes science-based goals timed to 2030 and aligned to the Paris Agreement on climate change, as well as the aspiration to be carbon neutral by 2050. The new TCFD report also draws heavily from information included in the company’s annual CDP Climate Report, which Cummins has been reporting to since 2006 and posting its response publicly since 2014.  

Finally, the new report includes extensive information on the company’s two decades of leadership on emissions related issues, from having the first heavy-duty engine certified to tough new EPA standards in 2002 to the unveiling of PLANET 2050 in the last quarter of 2019. Cummins has long supported tough, clear and enforceable regulations that spur innovation in the commercial power industry. It has also actively advocated for action on the world’s climate challenges.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TCFD

TCFD has emerged quickly as an important platform in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting over the past five years. The task force was created in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board, a group launched after the G20 London summit in 2009 to promote international financial stability. The TCFD’s first chairman was Michael Bloomberg, the former Mayor of New York City and a 2020 presidential candidate in the United States.

The task force released its first reporting standards in 2017 to encourage companies to report “clear, comprehensive, high-quality information on the impacts of climate change.” The TCFD standards received a major boost in 2020 when Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, an investment management corporation based in New York City, called the standards a “valuable framework” for reporting on climate risk in his influential annual letter to CEOs. With more than $8 trillion in assets under management, BlackRock has considerable influence.

“Climate change poses both risks and opportunities for business, now and in the future,” TCFD says on its website. “As the Earth’s temperature rises, increasingly common natural disasters are disrupting ecosystems and human health, causing unanticipated business losses, and threatening assets and infrastructure.”  

The TCFD report will soon be followed by Cummins’ 2020-21 Sustainability Overview and the company’s 2020 Sustainability Progress Report looking at key ESG metrics for 2020. Those wanting to learn more can also check out Cummins’ Sustainability website.