Environmental programmes
Mining, smelting and associated activities have an impact on the environment with implications for land, water, air and ecosystems
Rio Tinto accepts the challenge of environmental stewardship. In doing so, we seek to understand the environmental aspects and impacts of what we do, including holding informed discussions on our activities with our employees, neighbours, investors and other interested parties. We then build what we learn into systems to manage and minimise those impacts. In addition, we have several important partnerships with key NGOs and other organisations that aim to share expertise and improve environmental performance.
Building on a foundation of compliance with applicable laws and voluntary commitments wherever we operate, we seek continuing improvement through applying best practices appropriate to local situations. We set targets for these improvements and publicly report our progress against them.
We implement environmental management systems and standards to provide a rigorous continuous improvement framework to support the planning, implementing, checking and reviewing of our environmental programmes and performance.
We develop and implement strategies on issues that present Rio Tinto with significant risks and opportunities (both material and reputational). We currently have strategies focusing on water, biodiversity, product stewardship and acid rock drainage.
We strive to understand the impacts on the resources we use in our activities including:
Working to reduce the outputs of our activities that have potential environmental impacts includes:
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