Our performance

In addition to our on line and printed Sustainable development review, we report on by using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines - an international, multi-stakeholder effort to create a common framework for the voluntary reporting of the economic, environmental and social impact of an organisation.

As a member of the International Council for Mining and Metals (ICMM), we were involved in work to develop a Mining and Metals Sector Supplement to these reporting guidelines. We believe that the resulting supplement is helping companies to identify and target economic, environmental, and social performance issues and indicators specific to the mining industry, and to produce more relevant, meaningful, and comparable reports.

Please see a summary of our performance in goals and targets and performance data.

Changes to our reporting

This year's reporting is drawn up in-line with the GRI's new generation or G3 guidelines and to that end, we have adopted the "materiality principle", a new, more formal process to identify what we should report on. In accordance with those guidelines, we declare that our 2006 Sustainable Development Review and the appropriate parts of this website are aligned with Application Level A+.  Please go to GRI Checklist to see our responses.

In addition, we have included commentary on non managed operations, such as the Grasberg copper mine, where we have a significant financial interest. And another innovation is our use of a panel of external stakeholders, who helped by reading and commenting on the document in draft. The panel will also help us improve future reports.

Reporting at Group level

Our reporting on activities at the Group level data apply to calendar years and, unless otherwise stated, represent 100 per cent of the parameter at each managed operation, even though we may have only partial ownership.

We collect health, safety, environment and community data using industry standard techniques consistent with Rio Tinto standards.  We collect data from all facilities to ensure that at least 98 per cent of the inventory in each area is captured.

We apply global definitions and guidance to ensure consistency and comparability between operations.  We store data, which is queried and aggregated to the Group level in a central database to avoid manual intervention. 

And we source factors and formulae that are used in calculations from relevant industry protocols (for example, the Global Reporting Index, the International Organisation for Standardization, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) where available. 

The independent consulting firm, Environmental Resources Management (ERM), was used to verify the health, safety and environment (HSE) data, and a statement from ERM is available on Assurance.

Each of our business units and the Exploration group produce their own sustainable development reports, and those for 2006 will be available from the end of April on Local Reports.