Caterpillar sustainability score: 25/100
Caterpillar manufactures heavy construction and mining equipment globally, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1925, it is a Fortune 500 industrial company and sector leader in earthmoving and power systems.
More about Caterpillar
Its products enable infrastructure and resource extraction worldwide, making its supply chain and product-use emissions material to global decarbonisation.
Founded 1925Head office Peoria, Illinois, USStaff ~109,600Revenue ~$64.8BWebsite ↗
Caterpillar reports Scope 1+2 emissions with limited third-party assurance and claims a 30% reduction target aligned to science-based methodology, but lacks SBTi validation. Scope 3 emissions—representing 99% of the footprint—are rising and largely unaddressed. The company sits on boards of trade associations actively obstructing US climate policy, undermining credibility despite improving transparency.
Caterpillar scores 25/100 (Significant gaps) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Companies can never pay for anything about their own score. Last verified May 2026.
That places Caterpillar joint 808th of 934 companies scored, and 34th of 37 in Electronics / Hardware.
What is Caterpillar doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (7/10, 6/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Nature & Biodiversity Impact (2/10, 3/10).
Where Caterpillar lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- Emissions from its own operations7/10Its own emissions aren't independently verified or tracked over several years.
- Emissions from its supply chain4/10Most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions aren't measured.
- Whether its emissions are falling2/10No evidence its emissions are falling, not even from energy bills or mileage.
- How clean its energy is4/10Less than half its energy shown to be renewable, or no transition plan.
- Its effect on nature3/10No assessment of its effect on nature, and no basic environmental policy.
- How it uses materials and handles waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets4/10Its targets aren't science-based or committed to the Science Based Targets initiative.
- How openly it reports6/10No annual impact report, or no pay linked to climate targets.
- Its record on controversies3/10Points deducted for controversies or its business model. The finding is under question 10.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.
How is Caterpillar's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Caterpillar's score based on?
13 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
62% of them were published by Caterpillar itself; the rest come from independent sources.
Scored on 11 April 2026 under an earlier version of our method. We're re-checking it under the current method.
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
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How does Caterpillar compare with other electronics / hardware companies?
Where Caterpillar sits among electronics / hardware peers.
Among the 37 major electronics / hardware brands we've scored, Caterpillar sits 34th of 37.
Who scores higher in Electronics / Hardware?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Caterpillar.
Flint Labs is a seed-stage battery maker that publishes no emissions data, energy strategy or sustainability targets.
See the breakdown →John Deere reports solid operational emissions reductions and SBTi-validated targets, but these gains are compromised by cyclical revenue decline masking structural progress.
See the breakdown →Samsung Electronics' footprint was 117.5 million tCO2e in 2025, 68% of it the electricity its products use over their lives, and it rose on 2024. 32.5% of its electricity is renewable, mostly through certificates: 94.8% in its consumer devices division but 26.2% in its chip division, and Greenpeace has criticised gas plants planned for its new chip cluster.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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