Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs
Purpose & Values
The drive for innovation and continuous improvement is at the heart of our purpose
Business Strategy
Climate change is at the heart of our business strategy
Innovation
Finding better ways to do things is in our DNA
We supply the metals and minerals used to help the world grow and decarbonise
Iron Ore
The primary raw material used to make steel, which is strong, long-lasting and cost-efficient
Lithium
The lightest of all metals, it is a key element needed for low-carbon technologies
Copper
Tough but malleable, corrosion-resistant and recyclable, and an excellent conductor of heat and transmitter of electricity
Bringing to market materials critical to urbanisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy
Oyu Tolgoi
One of the most modern, safe and sustainable operations in the world
Rincon Project
A long-life, low-cost and low-carbon lithium source
Simandou Project
The world’s largest untapped high-grade iron ore deposit
Providing materials the world needs in a responsible way
Climate Change
We’re targeting net zero emissions by 2050
Nature solutions
Our nature-based solutions projects complement the work we're doing to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions
Decarbonisation progress update
We have a clear plan on decarbonisation - find out more about our progress in 2024
We aim to deliver superior returns to our shareholders while safeguarding the environment and meeting our obligations to wider society
Acquisition of Arcadium Lithium
Bringing our scale, development capabilities and financial strength to the Arcadium Lithium portfolio
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Things you can't live without
Our podcast discussing what needs to happen to create a sustainable future for the everyday items we have come to rely on
The 'f' word of innovation
How unlocking innovation requires a change of mindset
Reducing titanium oxide's carbon footprint
Our BlueSmelting technology could drastically reduce carbon emissions during ore processing
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Through our operations, we're connected to vast and varied landscapes, from deserts in Mongolia to sub-tropical forests in Australia, Madagascar and South Africa. At the same time, we have a significant greenhouse gas footprint, involving hard-to-abate processes, and much of the technology we need to decarbonise doesn't yet exist. This gives us both the opportunity and responsibility to develop and invest in high integrity nature-based solutions. Our nature-based solutions projects complement the work we're doing to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions. They don't compete for capital with, or replace, our decarbonisation projects; rather they are treated as standalone carbon and nature investments that can bring positive outcomes in the regions where we operate. We’re working with communities and local partners to identify, co-design and implement projects suited to the local area and that provide a fair share of benefits to all stakeholders, while also generating high-integrity carbon and biodiversity credits. Core to this work is co-designing solutions with communities to secure resilient and improved livelihoods through the protection, sustainable management, and restoration of nature. This approach complements our work to reduce the social and environmental risks and impacts of our operations. We're investing in existing and new projects in Australia, Madagascar, Guinea and South Africa. Our ambition is to work with communities to commit at least 500,000 hectares of land to high-integrity nature-based solutions projects globally by 2025.
While prioritising emissions reductions at our operations, we may retire high-quality carbon credits from nature-based solutions projects towards our 2030 targets. This will complement our abatement project portfolio – which aims to reduce operational emissions by 50% by 2030 – and support our compliance with emissions regulation such as the Safeguard Mechanism in Australia. Our emissions reporting will continue to transparently distinguish between our underlying operational emissions, the volume and type of carbon credits retired, and net Group emissions.
In 2023, we invested $88m in carbon credits and nature-based solutions. Currently we are working to ramp up the retirement of carbon credits to approximately 3.5 Mt CO2e per year over the next decade. This is equivalent to around 10% of our 2018 baseline emissions. This will be adjusted according to the progress of our decarbonisation programs and any technology breakthroughs for our hard-to-abate emissions.
We're developing and investing in new nature-based solutions projects in the regions where we operate. At the same time, we look for existing high-integrity projects we can support. This combined approach helps us to create new opportunities for nature-based solutions to grow in number and scale. We also purchase high-quality carbon credits from the voluntary carbon market. We work in 3 ways:
1. Develop new projects
We work with local partners and communities to develop and implement new nature-based solutions projects that address nature loss, while generating carbon credits and delivering benefits for local communities.
2. Invest in and scale up existing projects
Through commercial investments with project partners, we provide capital and support the development and scale-up of nature-based solutions projects in our operating regions.
3. Source high-integrity carbon credits
Through spot carbon credit purchases and long-term offtake agreements from nature-based solutions projects that meet our high-integrity criteria, we aim to source the highest quality credits available in the market.
Whether we invest in new projects, provide scale-up capital or purchase from the market, we apply our high-integrity criteria, which form the basis of our due diligence process.
We define high-integrity projects as those which foster positive outcomes for people, nature and climate, and take an integrated landscape perspective.
Our high-integrity criteria are based on our own standards as well as international best practice, guidance and principles, as provided by organisations such as:
We also apply our own criteria for sustainable development and nature positive outcomes to identify and develop projects that support multi-decade sustainability. We design our projects to advance measurable sustainability objectives such as water stewardship, soil health, waste reduction and biodiversity protection, and community benefits such as job creation and public health improvement.
Across all our projects – regardless of whether we’re purchasing credits, investing in existing projects or developing our own, these same criteria form the basis of our due diligence process.
We gather all types of information when assessing a proposed project investment, including publicly available data, geospatial data and analysis, and data and models from the project developer. We also hold question and answer sessions with the developer and its implementation team, combined with site inspections. All this information is assessed against our requirements, and if at any stage the project fails to meet our criteria, we will not proceed with the investment.
In general, a project is considered additional when the benefits delivered would not have otherwise happened, but for the finance received and activities enabled by the project. So, it must go beyond business-as-usual and deliver a net positive benefit. For example, in the case of GHG reductions, if carbon credits are awarded to abatement that would have happened regardless of the project/investment, overall emissions would continue to rise without an equivalent cut elsewhere. In that case, the project delivers no real carbon emissions avoidance or reduction. We seek to ensure our activities are consistent with additionality principles in 3 ways:
To assess a project’s additionality, we use the latest VCS Additionality Tools. These help us to ensure that the carbon project and all complementary activities represent sufficient enhancements in financial flows, as well as environmental and social practices to demonstrate improvement from a business-as-usual scenario.
We ask questions such as:
GHG emissions reduction and removals should be quantifiable using standardised methods, measurement tools and approaches - including adjustments for uncertainty and leakage. All carbon benefits from the projects we invest in and develop are measured against a credible emissions baseline and using robust carbon accounting methodologies, to ensure that our claims represent real carbon benefits. We continually monitor updates to these methodologies and adapt our own approach accordingly. We review all project baselines with our nature solutions carbon advisers to ensure that the number of verified and issued carbon credits is conservative and not over or underestimated. We also work to ensure that the project design and carbon accounting methodologies do not allow double-counting scenarios (e.g. instances where the benefit of a single Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Unit is used or claimed more than once). In addition, we're working with governments and other stakeholders to ‘nest’ all our REDD+ projects within jurisdictional programs. Nesting is a REDD+ carbon project design technique intended to reduce the risk of double-claiming. Within each jurisdiction, it harmonises land-use activities implemented at different scales, integrates the accounting frameworks for all the REDD+ carbon projects, and enforces comparable environmental safeguards. We use pilot projects to test whether our project activities result in meaningful carbon avoidance or removals, and these are quantified using robust methods appropriate to the project type.
For public accountability and transparency, all quantification methods and techniques will be publicly available in project documents on reputable carbon registries.
The permanence of a carbon project refers to the physical longevity and integrity of its carbon storage. To ensure that carbon credits generated by projects represent permanent reduction and removal, we take precautionary measures throughout the project cycle to understand what is typical, achievable or feasible for given project types and activities, and what efforts are made to avoid or mitigate the associated risks of reversal events. Where projects carry a risk of reversibility, safeguards and mechanisms are put in place to prevent and/or compensate for such losses should they occur e.g. insurance, credit buffer pools and ton-year accounting.
We seek to ensure that our projects don’t result in negative unintended consequences for people, communities, their heritage or natural ecosystems:
FPIC-based approaches
Cultural heritage and livelihoods
Grievance mechanism
As part of our purpose to invest in and develop projects that bring positive outcomes for people and nature, we look for aspects that support multi-decade project sustainability.
We design our projects to advance measurable sustainability objectives such as water stewardship, soil health, waste reduction and biodiversity protection, and community benefits such as job creation and public health improvement. If the developer cannot provide evidence that the requirements set out in this criteria are in place or confirms they are not, or that they are not of a sufficient standard – provided the basics are in place, there have been no serious or irreversible breaches, and the developer is willing to collaborate to improve the project integrity – we’re willing to consider support of further development and improvement to achieve international expectations. If not, we do not proceed. In addition, projects are assessed for their role in the Rio Tinto Nature Solutions pipeline to include:
We're investing in our own high-integrity nature-based solutions to bring positive outcomes in the regions where we operate.
We're developing and investing in high-integrity nature-based solutions that balance positive outcomes for people, nature and climate in the regions where we operate.
Carbon programs – often called carbon standards – and their registries are an essential part of the voluntary carbon market.
Our carbon team sources, develops and invests in Australian carbon projects to meet our assets’ Safeguard Mechanism liabilities. Sourcing focuses on high-quality projects within 3 land-based methods: savanna fire management, human-induced regeneration (HIR) and environmental planting.
We have an opportunity to invest in carbon projects that have positive outcomes for nature and promote Indigenous participation in carbon markets. In 2023, we purchased:
We're also focused on project development to reduce our overall reliance on spot transactions and move ACCU costs closer to the marginal cost of development.
We believe that local partners, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), communities and their representatives, have the knowledge and experience of what works best in their context. They hold the best solutions, and their involvement is key to the long-term resilience of projects. Some of these local partners are connected to leading international organisations able to support the responsible scaling of activities. Our NGO partners include BirdLife International, Asity Madagascar, BirdLife South Africa, Guinée Ecologie, Peace Parks Foundation, Sayari Earth Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society, and WILDTRUST.
We are also members of organisations such as the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance, to learn and share our knowledge with other businesses, NGOs and solution providers who share our commitment to high-integrity nature-based solutions.
Nature solutions can only be effective when they are suited to the local environment and co-designed and implemented with local communities. What works well in one place may produce negative outcomes elsewhere, so nature solutions can take a variety of different shapes and combinations to best support people and nature. Covering actions from across nature conservation, natural resource management, and the agricultural sector, nature solutions tend to focus on protection, conservation, management, and restoration. Within these areas, nature solutions can cover the management of agricultural areas, forests and other land uses. Most nature solutions are critical investments not just as part of climate action – with positive impacts on GHG emissions and/or carbon sequestration – but also to address nature loss and the resilience of communities globally, deriving multiple co-benefits that address a variety of global Sustainable Development Goals. The different types of nature solutions projects are:
Establishing or expanding measures of protection for natural or semi-natural ecosystems for the purposes of conserving and/or regulating ecosystem services, and preventing the loss of natural landscapes and resources.
Actions in this space are focused on preventing the conversion of forest or grasslands into tilled croplands and other greenhouse gas-intensive land uses. Land or resource use is either fully restricted, significantly regulated or managed by project implementation partners, with the support of local governments, cooperatives and other local community organisations. Project areas include protected areas, parks and Indigenous land.
Enhancing agricultural systems to increase food security, enhance adaptive capacity of farmers to the impacts of climate change, and mitigate climate change where possible. Focused on the use of climate-smart agriculture approaches which address climate or weather-related risk, while improving food security in the short and long-term. Project activities include conservation agriculture, nutrient and soil health management, improved rice cultivation, agroforestry, silvopastoralism, livestock and grazing management, and manure management. These activities also provide benefits of productivity, resilience, greenhouse gas reductions/removals and must be socially and culturally appropriate for the host communities.
Actions in this space also improve enabling conditions e.g. infrastructure development and sustainable livelihoods.
From when we first identify a potential project, through to feasibility studies, identifying the right partners, engaging with all stakeholders, and eventually retiring carbon credits, there are several steps we follow to ensure that we help develop high-integrity projects that deliver positive outcomes for people, nature and climate. This typically takes many years, with the pace set by engagements with communities and the registration and verification processes. When we invest in existing projects, these are reviewed and verified through a due diligence process based on the aspects below and relative to local context.
How we process personal data provided or obtained through this website.
With the exception of the use of cookies, Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of our Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
With the exception of the use of cookies (explained below), Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
Part 1 of this Privacy Policy contains the Rio Tinto Data Privacy Standard, which provides an overview of Rio Tinto’s approach to personal data processing. There is additional information in the appendices to the Data Privacy Standard, including information about disclosures, trans-border data transfers, the exercise of data subject rights and how to make complaints or obtain further information relating to Rio Tinto’s processing of your personal data.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us at digital.comms@riotinto.com).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of this Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
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