Air emissions have the potential to affect the health, general well being and livelihood of people and degrade the environment. We aim to minimise emissions through improvements in process control and capture. Our indicators for success are reduced emissions of oxides of sulphur (expressed at sulphur dioxide equivalent), fluoride, greenhouse gas emissions and reduced dust related complaints at our operations.

Oxides of sulphur
The majority of oxides of sulphur emissions from Rio Tinto's operations come from smelters. In 2003, total SO_x emissions were 83,000 tonnes. More on oxides of sulphur emissions.

Fluoride
The majority of Rio Tinto's fluoride emissions are from aluminium smelters and to a lesser extent by other coal consuming operations. In 2003, fluoride emissions were 1,050 tonnes. More on fluoride emissions.

Dust
Dust is generated by Rio Tinto operations from moving or stockpiling mine waste and product, traffic movements on unsealed roads, and stack emissions. Quantitative monitoring of dust is in place at some operations but the diffuse nature of the sources makes use of these data as a performance indicator for Group wide reporting difficult. Instead, community complaints and the associated response from operations are used as indicators of dust management performance. In 2003, 19 operations received dust related complaints. More on dust emissions.

Data reliability