Our environmental management systems are designed to improve the consistency of our performance and to identify and address the risks specific to our businesses.

Management systems include:

Policy - Rio Tinto's environment policy is set out in The way we work. We recognise that managing our environmental responsibilities is essential to our long term success.

Planning - involves understanding the aspects, impacts and risks of our activities and the expectations of external stakeholders so as to develop a rigorous approach to implementing our policy. This includes research and development, as well as identifying appropriate performance indicators and setting performance targets.

Implementation - to assist in implementation of the policy we have developed environment standards and complementary guidance documents.

Checking and review - the internal assurance process comprises a vertically integrated structure of corporate policies, standards, audits, reviews and reporting procedures. The Committee on social and environmental accountability monitors the implementation of policies.

Audits and reviews and other assurance processes are required to verify compliance and confirm delivery on our policies.