Future reef

Engaging employees around climate change at Rio Tinto Aluminium

In late 2005 Rio Tinto Aluminium joined together with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to form the Future Reef partnership. This collaborative research partnership forms the basis of a world-first investigation into the potential impact of increasing levels of carbon dioxide on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

Future Reef is a world first collaboration between industry and science in climate change reef research and is an active, four-year partnership. The University of Queensland is the research provider and runs the Heron Island Research Station where the research programme is based.

Each year, 30 Rio Tinto employees collect baseline data for the research programme by participating in expeditions to the Heron Island Research Station. Here employees work alongside researchers and learn about reef biology, marine life and climate change.

Ocean acidification occurs when increasingly large quantities of carbon dioxide are absorbed into the ocean.

Future Reef brochure