Cummins Northern Echo : Powerhouse Of The Green Transition?

The Northern Echo has declared Cummins Darlington a “powerhouse of the region’s green transition”. Lovely. The same article then explains that Cummins has not productionised its hydrogen engine, market demand is not ready, legislation is not ready, hydrogen economics do not stack up, infrastructure is lacking and UK policy does not currently put hydrogen at the front of truck decarbonisation. Meanwhile, I cannot find the same local paper reporting Cummins’ record $1.675 billion US emissions penalty. Some powerhouse. Some fucking news judgement.

The Northern Echo loves Cummins.

Really loves Cummins.

On 19 March 2026, BUSINESSiQ editor Mike Hughes delivered another tour of Cummins Darlington under the headline “Cummins – a powerhouse of the region’s green transition.”

Powerhouse.

Not experimenting with the green transition. Not preparing for the green transition. Not trying to work out which technologies might survive the green transition.

Powerhouse.

Then Cummins starts talking.

The Powerhouse Hasn’t Productionised The Product

The star attraction is hydrogen internal combustion.

Miles Askew, Cummins On-Highway Product Planning, explains that an 18-to-24-month government-funded programme produced the architecture and basic DNA for a truck-sized hydrogen engine. Darlington can demonstrate how the system works, where the pipes go and how it integrates into a vehicle.

Interesting engineering.

There is just one small fucking issue.

Cummins hasn’t productionised it yet.

Askew says legislation and market demand are not in the right place for a commercial launch. The engineering may work on the dynos in Darlington, but hydrogen cost and the infrastructure required mean it “doesn’t yet stack up” in a way that fleet operators are ready to jump on.

That is an impressive amount of reverse gear for an article with POWERHOUSE OF THE GREEN TRANSITION written across the bonnet.

Commercial production is not there. Neither are the economics, customers, infrastructure or legislation.

Apart from that though, fucking powerhouse.

Cummins Is Watching Its Own Revolution

Askew gets better.

Even if significant quantities of hydrogen become available around Teesside and the wider North East, he explains that trucks and buses may find themselves behind major industrial users such as steel, concrete and cement plants in the queue.

Cummins can develop the engine. Whether anybody wants enough of them at the necessary price is another matter.

For now, Askew says the company is effectively maintaining a “watching brief” while it waits to see how the market develops and when the tipping points finally arrive.

A watching brief.

The Northern Echo sees a powerhouse of the green transition.

Cummins appears to be standing beside it with binoculars.

Don’t Panic, There Is Still Diesel

Fortunately, Cummins is not betting Darlington entirely on a hydrogen market that may or may not turn up.

Instead, the same article moves into Cummins’ fuel-agnostic strategy, where common engine architecture can support diesel, gas, HVO and hydrogen while the company prepares for Euro 7 emissions requirements.

There it is.

The green powerhouse comes with diesel.

Obviously.

Rather than choosing one future, Cummins can sell several of them at once. Hydrogen provides the futuristic engineering story, while HVO supplies transitional language. Natural gas keeps combustion respectable, Euro 7 gives diesel somewhere else to go and Accelera handles the electrical department.

Destination Zero has a surprisingly busy fucking engine room.

Paint, Rainwater And The Green Campus

To be fair, there are real environmental improvements in the article, and there is no need to pretend otherwise.

Jaime Mullis, Cummins Environmental Project Manager, discusses a switch from solvent-based to water-based paint which Cummins says reduced VOC emissions from the relevant process by around 80%. In addition, the Darlington site has worked on rainwater harvesting, energy efficiency, recycling oil and coolant, reducing waste and removing gas from processes where possible.

Good.

Those are sensible industrial improvements.

TCAP is not going to demand the solvent paint be brought back so the joke works better.

However, the problem is the size of the wrapper. Reducing VOC emissions is useful. Harvesting rainwater is useful. Improving the efficiency of a large industrial site is useful.

None of those things automatically turn one of the world’s major combustion-engine manufacturers into a green-transition powerhouse because a local newspaper has found the adjective drawer.

Especially when the flagship technology in the article is immediately described as commercially unready.

The Story The Northern Echo Somehow Missed

There is another Cummins environmental story.

It is slightly larger than the paint shop.

In January 2024, Cummins agreed to a $1.675 billion civil penalty over vehicle emissions-control violations in the United States.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says Cummins configured software features to act as defeat devices which reduced or deactivated emissions controls. Approximately 630,000 model-year 2013-2019 Ram 2500 and 3500 diesel vehicles contained illegal defeat-device software.

Alongside those vehicles, approximately 330,000 additional later vehicles contained auxiliary emission control devices which had not been disclosed during certification.

Nearly one million vehicles sat inside the settlement.

According to the EPA, when affected vehicles were undergoing emissions compliance testing, the software activated full emissions controls. Under other normal operating conditions, however, software features reduced or deactivated those controls.

The result was excess NOx pollution.

More importantly, the penalty was the largest civil penalty in Clean Air Act history. Cummins also faced hundreds of millions of dollars in estimated recall and remediation costs, taking the overall settlement burden to roughly $2 billion.

That sounds quite newsworthy.

Cummins operates one of the most important industrial sites in Darlington, while The Northern Echo is the town’s historic regional newspaper.

I have searched its Cummins coverage and the wider web index.

Awards stories are easy to find. So are Cummins success stories, hydrogen pieces, investment coverage and descriptions of the company as a powerhouse of the green transition.

What I cannot find is The Northern Echo telling its readers that Cummins had just agreed to the largest civil penalty in the history of the US Clean Air Act.

Strange, that.

The rainwater tank made it.

The defeat devices apparently didn’t.

Harold Evans Might Have Had A Fucking Question

The irony gets better when you look at The Northern Echo’s own history.

Former Northern Echo editor Sir Harold Evans became one of the great names of British journalism. His campaigning work at the paper covered subjects including public health and pollution.

Decades later, Parliament explicitly remembered it.

During a House of Commons environmental-policy debate in July 1990, MPs paid tribute to clean-air campaigning and said Harold Evans, when he was editor of The Northern Echo, had played a “formidable role” in telling people about the importance of clean air and pushing for clean-air policy.

That is quite a heritage.

Once upon a time, The Northern Echo had an editor whose campaigning for cleaner air was important enough to be praised on the floor of the House of Commons.

Then Cummins agreed to a $1.675 billion emissions penalty involving illegal defeat-device software and the modern Echo appears to have missed the story entirely.

Two years later:

POWERHOUSE OF THE REGION’S GREEN TRANSITION.

Quite the fucking transition.

Cummins And The Echo Are Not Exactly Strangers

Perhaps the warmth makes more sense when you look at how deeply Cummins has been embedded in The Northern Echo’s business ecosystem.

Back in 2022, Cummins itself wrote about The Northern Echo’s Level Up platform. The company described it as a place where businesses and partners could come together to celebrate achievements and promote the virtues of the region.

Steve Nendick, then Cummins Marketing Communications Director, praised the campaign for giving the North East a louder voice and helping attract investment.

Later BUSINESSiQ material described Cummins as one of the leading partners in the Level Up campaign. Senior company figures appeared at events and in interviews, while Cummins hosted activity at Darlington and BUSINESSiQ editor Mike Hughes interviewed senior leadership.

So this is not simply a newspaper occasionally reporting on the largest engineering employer down the road.

There is a relationship.

Partner.

Event participant.

Host.

Profile subject.

Awards sponsor.

Awards finalist.

Awards winner.

Green powerhouse.

By this point, Cummins has collected quite a few BUSINESSiQ loyalty points.

BUSINESSiQ Even Publishes The Price List

This is where the distinction between journalism and the wider BUSINESSiQ commercial machine becomes particularly interesting.

The 2026 BUSINESSiQ Awards partnership pack offered category sponsorship for £4,000 plus VAT.

What did that partnership include?

Among other benefits, sponsors were offered an article published in The Northern Echo and online announcing the business as category sponsor, a two-page editorial feature in BUSINESSiQ magazine, full brand exposure across LOCALiQ news, print and social channels, credit in pre-event editorial coverage, advertising, digital display activity, judging-day involvement, tickets, branding and the right to present the award.

That does not establish that Mike Hughes’ March Cummins article was bought under that particular package.

Instead, it establishes something more useful: BUSINESSiQ openly sells commercial partnerships which include editorial exposure inside The Northern Echo ecosystem.

That is their own fucking brochure.

When a publication simultaneously operates journalism, business campaigns, awards, sponsorship packages, branded editorial opportunities and relationships with major local companies, readers are entitled to understand the machinery.

That matters even more when one of those companies subsequently gets called a regional green powerhouse.

And it matters considerably more when the same newspaper appears to have missed the biggest environmental enforcement action in that company’s history.

Which Brings Me To Gavin “Gav” Foster

I have encountered this machinery before.

When Cummins had recently sacked me, I was angry.

Obviously.

The first Northern Echo BUSINESSiQ Awards were scheduled for 28 April 2023 at Ramside Hall, just outside Durham. Cummins was listed among the businesses sponsoring the inaugural event and was also shortlisted for Business of the Year, alongside My Property Box and Razorblue.

I hinted on Twitter at a protest at the event.

Nothing exotic.

No tactical assault on the buffet.

No plan to seize the trophies.

I was going to protest.

Then Gavin Foster DM’d me.

At the time, Foster was editor of The Northern Echo. Newsquest had appointed him to the role in 2022, when he spoke about the paper’s “rich and proud history” and reputation for trusted, quality journalism.

Suddenly, Gavin seemed very interested in my grievances with Cummins.

The timing was exquisite.

Cummins – sponsor.

Business of the Year finalist.

Recently dismissed Cummins worker – publicly threatening to protest outside the awards.

Northern Echo editor – hello, Lee, tell me about your concerns.

Maybe it was spontaneous journalistic curiosity.

I read the timing rather differently.

And laughed at him.

My BUSINESSiQ Mole Had The Better Story

The funniest detail arrived later.

According to my BUSINESSiQ mole, my proposed appearance had caused enough concern that extra security was put on for the awards.

Extra security.

For me.

A bloke who had tweeted about protesting outside a business awards ceremony.

Apparently, somewhere inside the preparations at Ramside Hall, the prospect of Lee Thompson standing around with a grievance had entered the security planning.

I would love to know what the briefing looked like.

Threat profile: recently sacked diesel-engine worker.

Known weapons: Twitter account.

Likely objective: standing outside and being annoying.

Sadly for the additional security operation, I never turned up.

Instead, Razorblue won Business of the Year, Cummins survived the evening and democracy held.

Then Cummins Started Collecting Trophies

The BUSINESSiQ relationship did not fade away after Ramside.

In 2024, Cummins sponsored the Innovation Award, which was won by Wootzano.

By 2025, the company was again listed among BUSINESSiQ Awards category sponsors for the ceremony at Wynyard Hall.

Then it had a very good night.

Cummins Darlington won Business of the Year.

It also won the Net Zero Award.

Yes.

Net Zero.

Cummins employees celebrated the double win and thanked The Northern Echo for recognising the work taking place at Darlington.

At this point, the chronology starts writing its own satire.

January 2024: record $1.675 billion emissions penalty in the United States.

Later in 2024: BUSINESSiQ award sponsor.

2025: Northern Echo BUSINESSiQ Net Zero Award winner.

2026: powerhouse of the region’s green transition.

You almost admire the fucking efficiency.

This Is Not About Cummins Judging Itself

Nobody needs to invent corruption to make this interesting.

I am not saying Cummins sat in a room and awarded itself Business of the Year or Net Zero.

The documented relationship is enough.

The Northern Echo operates BUSINESSiQ as both a journalism brand and a business-engagement platform. Companies partner with it, sponsor awards and receive commercial packages containing editorial exposure. Meanwhile, Cummins has been a campaign partner, event participant, host, award sponsor, finalist, award winner and repeated editorial subject.

That is the ecosystem.

Against that background, editorial choices matter.

Opening a test facility is news. Developing hydrogen technology is news. Winning regional awards is news.

Agreeing to the largest Clean Air Act civil penalty in American history after regulators uncover illegal emissions-control software is also fucking news.

A publication cannot build a stream of coverage around a company’s green credentials while treating the record emissions enforcement action like it fell behind the filing cabinet.

The Boosterism Is The Weakest Part

Ironically, the underlying March 2026 story is actually good.

There is a genuinely interesting industrial transition happening at Darlington. An engine plant with decades of diesel history is trying to work out how hydrogen, HVO, natural gas, advanced diesel and electrification fit into a market where regulation, infrastructure and economics are moving at different speeds.

Miles Askew is candid about the uncertainty, which makes his contribution useful.

Hydrogen works technically, but Cummins has not productionised it. Fleet economics are not there yet. Infrastructure is not there yet. Industrial users may beat transport to the fuel, while government policy may favour other routes.

For now, Cummins is watching.

That is a proper business story.

You can practically hear the machinery changing gear.

It does not need “powerhouse of the green transition” smeared across the top like corporate fondant.

If anything, the facts are more interesting without it.

Powerhouse, Pending

Cummins Darlington matters.

It employs skilled people apparently. Darlington and the truth enjoy a loose relationship. It also develops serious engineering and has made legitimate environmental improvements, apparently. Hydrogen (lol) research may ultimately become commercially important, while the Powertrain Test Facility is a substantial investment.

None of that requires forgetting the rest of the ledger.

The Northern Echo once had Harold Evans pushing people to think seriously about clean air.

Today, BUSINESSiQ sells sponsorship packages containing editorial exposure. Cummins has been embedded in its business campaigns, sponsored its awards, collected its trophies and repeatedly appeared in favourable coverage. Mike Hughes now declares the company a green-transition powerhouse.

Meanwhile, Cummins’ own man explains that the hydrogen engine is not productionised, the economics do not stack up, infrastructure remains inadequate and the company is maintaining a watching brief.

Somewhere between the awards nights, partner events, green profiles and rainwater harvesting, a $1.675 billion record emissions penalty appears to have slipped through the fucking news net.

Hydrogen (lol) waiting.

Economics waiting.

Infrastructure waiting.

Market waiting.

Cummins watching.

Northern Echo applauding.

Powerhouse of the green transition.

Just don’t ask when it starts.

Or what happened to the emissions story.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Cummins Confidential : Northern Echo – Powerhouse Of The Green Transition, Just Don’t Ask When It Starts