Climate change
Rio Tinto accepts the need for climate change action and recognises the issue as being one of our greatest challenges and opportunities.
We believe that emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) resulting from human activities are contributing to climate change and that avoiding human caused changes to the climate is an important international goal.
Our businesses have a positive future in a world that is working to a global carbon constraints. We recognise that addressing the challenge of climate change will impose costs for GHG abatement and necessitate a change in the way the world uses energy. We support efficient, effective and equitable measures to tackle climate change, which promise a comprehensive, long term response to a globally complex problem. We accept the need for a price on carbon. See our position on climate change.
- Approach
- Product lifecycle
- Engagement
- Results
We recognise that large companies providing the world with minerals and energy are in the front line of the battle to reduce emissions.
We are a founding member of the Global CCS (carbon capture and storage) Institute, an active member of the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gases (CO2CRC) and the Otway Basin Pilot Project, Australia's research and demonstration project for storing carbon dioxide in geological formations. We are also a member of the FutureGen Alliance in the US and a contributor to the Australian billion dollar Coal21 Fund.
Rio Tinto actively participates in international policy development and with technical organisations seeking to support the development and deployment of low emission fossil fuel technologies. These include the Asia Pacific Partnership, the International Energy Agency Coal Industry Advisory Board, the Coal Utilization Research Council and the CCS Association.
During 2010, climate change legislation and regulation were debated in a number of jurisdictions where we operate which have the potential to increase our operating costs:
- In Australia new climate change policy has been discussed but not yet enacted. Currently we have both direct and indirect cost exposure as a result of a requirement to purchase certificates as part of the Government's renewable energy target. All legislated reporting requirements were met in 2010.
- In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is drafting regulation that will subject GHG emissions to permitting requirements.
- In the EU some of our operations are subject to the second phase of the EU emissions trading scheme. This exposure will increase when the third phase starts in 2013.
Energy intensive industries
We are particularly interested in how Energy Intensive Trade Exposed industries (EITE) are treated within the climate change agenda. We advocate for sound transitional arrangements for these sectors when climate change policy is implemented, so as to avoid carbon leakage. These arrangements could include free allocation of allowances within an Emissions Trading System (ETS).
International sectoral agreements (ISA) can address the competitiveness concerns of the EITE industry. They may provide an easier path for engaging developing countries, and a simpler negotiating process involving fewer parties than current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) negotiations. We are committed to working with others to explore the full potential of ISAs.
Other areas of cooperation include:
- Participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project and being included in the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index. Read our Carbon Disclosure Project response.
- In 2010, KUC and US Borax reported to the Climate Registry, a multi-state voluntary greenhouse gas reporting system.
- Participating in a number of collaborative efforts to promote effective public policy frameworks to address climate change. We are also a member of the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP).
- We have a collaboration agreement with Rocky Mountain Institute. Through this we are working on opportunities for reducing energy use and exploring various alternative energy sources.
- Rio Tinto Alcan is working with governments, power companies, universities and external consultants to share historical weather data, operate a common network of weather stations and assess the meteorological and hydrological uncertainties. Recently Rio Tinto Alcan has signed a multi-year partnership agreement with Ouranos, a consortium of 250 scientists and professionals from different disciplines focusing on Climate Sciences and Impacts & Adaptation. Rio Tinto Alcan is the first private company to join Ouranos. This partnership will allow RTA to further develop its strategies and decision-making tools for adapting to climate change, in a sustainable development context.
