Caterpillar Inc.

Caterpillar Inc., a U.S.-headquartered maker of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural-gas engines, industrial turbines, and locomotives, undertakes manufacturing operations in numerous countries. The company relies on water for foundry operations, cooling, cleaning, sanitation, and other industrial purposes across its global manufacturing sites. Site-level efficiency initiatives and water risk management are a small fraction of its environmental impact.

About half of the sites in Caterpillar's scope area scored maximum points for water efficiency, which measures water used per unit of production and is used for comparison across markets. The company's best water-related achievement was the two-part modernization of compressor cooling at its plant in Grenoble, France. First, the site installed a heat pump to harness compressor waste heat and use it for on-site hot-water production and generator preheating. Second, it transitioned from groundwater cooling to a dry-air cooling system. Combining these two upgrades cut the site's total water use by 64% (measured across 2023 to 2025), while also recuperating thermal energy for a new function.

Caterpillar intensified structured water management at its high-risk sites. By 2025, 77% of the world's sites under scope had completed all nine mandatory management items, up from 61% in 2024, while completion of individual water-management items was on average 91%. All high-risk sites within the company's Product Support and Logistics Division adopted additional water-management controls. The company's water intensity—total water use divided by revenue—declined from 64.8 thousand gallons per $1 million of revenue in 2024 to 63.2 in 2025.

But total use increased from 4.20 billion to 4.27 billion gallons, with foundry cooling water comprising 53.7% of the total. The report does not disclose the amount of water reused, discharged, or withdrawn in high-risk areas.