Climate change is a global concern. All governments and individuals need to work together to solve this issue. Rio Tinto's responsibility is to represent its interests and to provide timely and considered advice to governments.

We believe international and domestic policies to address climate change need to be effective, economically efficient, comprehensive, equitable and internationally consistent. Rio Tinto supports the following criteria to assist with the development of international and domestic policies.

Effective

• Minimise detrimental impacts on economic activity while reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases.
• Encourage innovation to develop new technologies that offer improved environmental outcomes.
• Introduce measures that yield long term solutions.
• Allow flexibility in the development of solutions.

Economically efficient

• Encourage market mechanisms that focus on emission reductions with the least cost and greatest potential over the long term.
• Encourage emissions reduction or off setting of emissions by the emitter.
• Ensure all measures are transparent to allow informed and rational decision making.
• Create property rights for emissions and markets for trading of emissions reductions.
• Recognise existing tax structures and the value of existing investments.
• Avoid the forced relocation of existing production from one country to another, without reductions in global emissions.

Comprehensive

• Cover all sectors of the economy that produce emissions including agriculture, transport, industry and the home.
• Address all greenhouse gas emissions on a life cycle basis.

Equitable

• Share equitably the burdens of adapting to and mitigating climate change across all countries, regions and sectors.
• Assist with the application and deployment of best practice in both developed and developing countries.
• Encourage and recognise SW early action to reduce emissions.

International

• Create a consistent global framework for allocating, earning, and trading of fungible emission credits, which provides the economic mechanism for low cost abatement.
• Encourage negotiated commitments for individual enterprises where emissions trading systems are not used.
• Ensure incentives are consistent with flexibility.