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
Iron ore is the primary raw material used to make steel
7 things the world will need for a low-carbon future
Wind, sun and water – what else do you need to make renewable energy work?
Sustainability – the expectation, not the exception
Shaping our aluminium product offering to meet demand for greener metals
Bringing to market materials critical to urbanisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy
Look inside a mine of the future
Our most intelligent mine yet is pioneering new mining technologies
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
Sustainability Reporting 2023
As temporary custodians of the land where we operate, we are entrusted with accessing the world’s essential materials and making them available for society’s use
Climate Change
We’re targeting net zero emissions by 2050
Tailings
We’ve launched a new interactive map of our tailings facilities
We aim to deliver superior returns to our shareholders while safeguarding the environment and meeting our obligations to wider society
Reports 2023
Download our 2023 Annual Report, Climate Change Report, Sustainability Fact Book and Taxes Paid Report
Get the latest news, stories and updates
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
A new way to decarbonise steel
Tackling a global challenge
Tackling it all
A short documentary series with the Queensland Reds is inspiring working women everywhere
Discover more about life at Rio Tinto
Graduates and students
If you want to drive real change, we have just the place to do it
Empowering families with flexibility
Supporting new parents of any gender with equal access to parental leave
Available jobs
Join our team
We’re seeing a decisive shift in society’s intentions towards the energy transition and sustainability goals.
Governments in the US, Europe and Canada are adopting policies to shift what’s known as the energy trilemma – energy security, energy affordability, and sustainability – into mutually reinforcing goals. For instance, the US Inflation Reduction Act provides around $369 billion in incentives and support by 20301 to support these measures.
Companies are also increasing their focus on sustainable sourcing to meet demands from regulators, the finance community, and businesses. And consumers are voting with their wallets – they view sustainability as a key differentiator when purchasing products and services. Simon Kucher’s 2021 Global Sustainability Study showed 74% of respondents felt sustainability was a crucial purchasing factor in categories such as energy and utilities, construction and consumer goods.
of global consumers feel that environmental sustainability is important, they like the idea of being sustainable, and want to live more sustainable lives
of global consumers have made modest to significant changes to their consumption behaviors over time to live more sustainably
of consumers rank sustainability as a top 5 value driver on average across categories, which means it is an important purchase criteria and is a key differentiator in the overall value proposition
Source: Global Sustainability Study 2021, Simon Kucher & Partners
We’re continuously engaging with customers to understand their needs and adapting our product offering in response – from partnering to develop carbon-free aluminium smelting to incorporating recycled content into our product offering.
We’re already supplying low-carbon aluminium products. RenewAL is the aluminium industry’s first certified low-carbon aluminium. And ELYSIS, our joint venture with Alcoa, is developing breakthrough aluminium smelting technology that produces no direct greenhouse gases. This will change the way we make aluminium for the world – and companies like Apple are already using it in their products, helping meet their customers’ expectations for sustainable production.
We’ve received key industry sustainability accreditations such as The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, Copper Mark and Moly Mark. And initiatives like START, our blockchain traceability platform, ensure our supply chain is transparent too, giving our customers and their consumers access to a holistic set of environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics for our aluminium products (More on this below).
We partnered with the BMW Group to provide responsibly sourced aluminium to the BMW Group’s vehicle production plant in Spartanburg, US. And in Japan and Asia, we’ve joined forces with Marubeni Corporation to deliver a simple, integrated way to achieve ESG-related goals and requirements for aluminium.
In 2022, we partnered with Ford to develop more sustainable and secure supply chains for battery and low-carbon materials for their vehicles, including lithium, low-carbon aluminium, and copper. And with Volvo Group, our partnership covers multi-commodity supply for their green transition. As a customer of their trucks, we also collaborate on developing small, autonomous electric vehicle technology for our operations.
We have a responsibility to transparently trace our materials through every stage of production, so our customers – and theirs – can have more visibility.
START, our responsible materials label, is a pioneer in supply chain traceability. Built on blockchain technology, it allows us to give our customers and their end users real-time data about where their materials have come from, at every stage of the supply chain. This gives our partners the information they need to make more sustainable choices.
A real-life example of this traceability is a partnership with AB Inbev in 2022, with whom we launched a specially marked, low-carbon Corona Canada beverage can – made from our aluminium and leveraging ELYSISTM technology. As part of this limited release, 1.2 million cans were produced with a QR code to inspire consumers to learn more about the cans’ low carbon footprint.
Technology is a key part of our strategy to produce responsibly made materials. In some cases, this has also allowed us to produce critical materials from existing waste, extracting maximum value from every part of what we mine.
At our iron and titanium operation in Canada, we became the first producer of scandium oxide in North America by extracting high-purity scandium oxide from waste streams without the need for any additional mining. Scandium is an essential material in aluminium-scandium alloys, used to create lightweight and durable parts for cars, planes, and renewable energy infrastructure.
At Kennecott in the US, we’re also turning slime into solar panels – we’re producing tellurium, a critical mineral used in solar panels, from waste generated during refining.
We’ve advanced a copper-heap leaching technology called Nuton, which could allow us to mine existing low-grade copper sulphide and waste and recover higher oxide and transitional material. It’s also water efficient and produces low emissions.
1 Source: https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/inflation_reduction_act_one_page_summary.pdf
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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