Low emission and product pathways
Rio Tinto is committed to making our products part of the solution to climate change rather than part of the problem.
- Aluminium: As a material for transportation components, aluminium is lighter than alternatives and can reduce fuel use and improve fuel efficiency.
- Borates, talc, titanium: These industrial minerals are used to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, transportation, and certain industrial processes.
- Coal: We are working to accelerate development and deployment of near "zero emissions" power generation and hydrogen production from coal.
- Iron Ore: We are reducing steel industry GHG emissions through the use of our carbon efficient HIsmelt iron making process and production of flux pellets.
- Uranium: We produce fuel for low carbon emissions nuclear electricity generation and hydrogen production.
Together with BP in 2007 we launched Hydrogen Energy which will develop decarbonised energy projects around the world. The venture will initially focus on hydrogen fuelled power generation using fossil fuels and carbon capture and storage technology to produce new large scale suppliers of clean electricity. Hydrogen Energy is our first foray into new business arenas which are being opened up by climate change and energy policy.
Hydrogen Energy and Masdar (Abu Dhabi's initiative for renewable and alternative energy and clean technology) have agreed to work together on an industrial scale hydrogen fired power generation project with carbon capture and storage in Abu Dhabi. The project is expected to limit greenhouse gas emissions by capturing some 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide generated, and safely and permanently store up to 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The plant is expected to be in commercial operation by 2012.
For many years we have been a sponsor of Battelle's Global Energy Technology Strategy Programme an international, public-private research program to better understand the role of technology development and deployment in addressing global climate change.