Message from the chairman
I am pleased to introduce our tenth annual review of Rio Tinto’s social and environmental performance. It was renamed last year the Sustainable development review to reflect the importance of integrating economic, social and environmental performance into our management approach to the business.
This Review focuses on our programmes in key areas, provides case studies that illustrate our approach in practice, and reports on our performance during the year against our targets. As a signatory of the UN Global Compact, we report in this web based Review on the ways in which we conduct our activities and carry out our programmes to support the Compact’s ten principles.
In 2005 Richard Goodmanson took over as chairman of the board Committee for social and environmental accountability (CSEA). The purpose of the CSEA is to ensure that Rio Tinto develops and implements the policies, standards, systems and procedures required to meet Group social and environmental commitments. It also reviews the compliance of Group businesses with corporate policies set out in The way we work. In this way, effective programmes, people and assurance processes combine to manage risks of potential harm to people and the environment, of financial and legal liability, reputational loss, market protection and access to future resources.
One of the key issues on our agenda is climate change. We are addressing this by improving our energy efficiency; working with our customers to improve the use of our products; conducting and supporting research and development into relevant new technologies; continuing to participate constructively in international and national policy debates; and ensuring the actions we take have social, environmental and economic value.
Rio Tinto is also learning with the help of others how best to manage biodiversity in our operations, and taking steps to ensure our products are ethically produced and safe in use. In my role as chairman, I strongly support these programmes which are integral to our future success. While I recognise Rio Tinto is already a leader in the industry, we still have some way to go.
Paul Skinner
Chairman
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