Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs
Our business
We operate in 35 countries where our 57,000 employees are working to find better ways to provide the materials the world needs
Our purpose in action
Continuous improvement and innovation are part of our DNA
Innovation
The need for innovation is greater than ever
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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Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our customers and our supply chains, and it will take a coordinated effort to make meaningful progress.
We have an important role to play on this journey. We are part of a huge ecosystem that spans 20,000 suppliers and 2,000 customers across many industries and countries.
We spend around $20 billion annually on goods and services and have over 230 marine vessels transporting our products at any given time.
The insights and relationships we are afforded by the scale of this network present a significant opportunity for us to contribute to tackling climate change and building more sustainable supply chains. It is fundamental to our values, it is critical to meeting customer needs, and it makes good business sense.
Consumers want products that are sustainably sourced, and companies want products that help them meet their emissions and sustainability targets.
Many of the materials used in products today may not be the preferred choices in the future unless they can establish their environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials or develop strong circular solutions.
Governments are also ramping up mandatory requirements and incentives to motivate companies to accelerate their ESG progress and meet their emissions commitments. As an example, the European Parliament backed a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism which would place a charge on the carbon content of emissions-intensive goods imported into the European Union from 2023.
Many countries have green building rating systems in place such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) by the US Green Building Council. And sustainability reporting is now mandatory for large companies in many countries.
Investors too are seeking ESG-based opportunities to deliver sustainable, long-term returns, further driving demand for responsibly produced materials. Sustainable investing that incorporates ESG criteria is gaining traction among individual investors and asset managers, while ESG funds captured approximately $51 billion of net new money from investors in 2020 – more than double 2019.
Many banks are now offering green loans, aimed at advancing environmental sustainability, and financing facilities for low-carbon aluminium are already available.
Businesses committed to ESG goals will certainly benefit from this new paradigm and our sector has a crucial role to play. For us this means producing the materials the world needs for a low-carbon future in the most sustainable way possible. This ranges from R&D partnerships on decarbonisation solutions to supporting industry certification schemes. We know we need to continue to build the sustainability of our own mining and processing practices, while also supporting those we work with to do the same.
No one company will solve the decarbonisation challenge. We need to collaborate across our supply chain, including partnerships with customers, technology providers, research institutes, government, and other stakeholders.
In our own business, we have a range of R&D and supply chain partnerships underway to both reduce our footprint and meet customer needs – not just on carbon, but across ESG more broadly.
START is one example of this. We call it a “nutrition label” for our products: START captures up to14 key ESG metrics – like waste and water management and safety – delivering transparency and traceability.
Through START, customers can measure and track the carbon footprint they have generated throughout our supply chain from the start to end of material production. Information like this helps businesses make decisions about the materials they use.
START helps with provenance tracking – demonstrating to authorities that regulatory requirements have been met across the supply chain or have satisfied conditions needed to attain incentives or industrial certification. This is especially critical in the world of United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, rules of origin or carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM).
In copper, our Kennecott mine in the US and the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia became the first in the world to be awarded the Copper Mark – the industry’s independent assurance programme – verifying the copper is responsibly produced.
In 2018 we launched the ELYSIS partnership with Alcoa to develop carbon-free aluminium smelting technology. We have made good progress and are now focused on accelerating the scale-up of the ELYSIS technology towards larger, commercial-sized cells in 2023. If successful, this technology could revolutionise the industry and in Canada alone could potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 7 million tons – the equivalent of removing 1.8 million cars from the roads.
In the automotive industry, we worked with industry partners to enable large-scale giga casting for electric vehicles (EVs). Through this work, a section of the car which had previously required 70 different parts built separately can now be made as one single part. This means the next generation of EVs can be built more efficiently and with a reduced carbon footprint.
We are also focused on finding ways to create value from waste. In the US, we’re working with the Critical Minerals Institute to find ways to extract critical minerals from our waste streams – including scandium, tellurium, selenium and rhenium – and develop pathways to market these materials which are essential in solar panels, electric vehicles and wind turbines. In Australia, for example, we worked with a customer to develop a new high-strength, lightweight aluminium-scandium alloy for use in their breakthrough 3D printing for aerospace. The alloy is made with our low-carbon aluminium and a high-purity scandium oxide extracted from waste from our Iron & Titanium business in Canada.
We recognise that we have a major carbon footprint, and we need to take urgent action to decarbonise our business.
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We are working with suppliers to fast-track the development of zero-emission haulage – hosting a Komatsu pre-production trial and targeting the world’s first deployment of 35 Caterpillar zero-emissions autonomous haul trucks at our Gudai-Darri site in the Pilbara. By 2025, we will be piloting zero-emissions haul trucks and locomotives with the goal to stop buying new diesel haul trucks and locomotives before 2030.
We have embedded greenhouse gas emissions in our sourcing criteria, and are expanding it to include other environmental, social and governance factors too.
We are accelerating delivery of our climate commitments on shipping. We have already delivered 30% intensity reduction on our owned and time-chartered fleet and will exceed IMO’s 2030 targets by 2025. We have done this with the use of more efficient vessels supported by tools such as weather routing and optimising schedules. And we expect further gains in the short-term as we explore broader efficiency solutions and the integration of alternative fuels, such as the use of biofuels and our investment in nine LNG dual-fuel vessels this year. We will also introduce net-zero emissions vessels into our portfolio by 2030 and support development of enabling technologies using net-zero carbon fuels.
We believe we have a role to play in the circular economy too. Indeed, customers have asked us to find ways to reuse their scrap metal.
We have recently announced investments in two Canadian aluminium recycling facilities, in our own cast house and in partnership with Shawinigan Aluminium, where we create custom alloys combining the lowest carbon metal with our customers’ scrap. Through our partnership with AB InBev – the world’s largest brewer – we are combining our low-carbon aluminium with beverage can scrap recycled in our own cast houses to create slab products for cans with a 30% lower carbon footprint.
This supports aluminium being favoured over alternative materials. In the packaging space, aluminium is more sustainable than glass or plastic. An aluminium container weighs 90% less than a glass one and 30% less than a plastic one. This leads to lower emissions during production, transportation and refrigeration. In addition, an aluminium container has 73% more recycled content than glass or plastic containers.
We are investing in European-based battery technology and manufacturing company InoBat Auto to support the development of a battery ecosystem in Europe – spanning R&D, lithium mining, battery manufacturing and recycling. InoBat has a battery R&D facility and pilot plant under development in Slovakia and is pursuing plans to build a number of gigafactories, including one in Serbia where our proposed Jadar lithium mine is located.
There is no doubt we have a long road ahead – but we are already moving forward at pace. We know we can play a critical role in partnering with our customers and suppliers, delivering value, while working together to create a more sustainable future.
Copper is the best non-precious conductor of heat and electricity on the planet. It's found in everything from the electrical wiring in houses to renewable power sources like wind turbines.
In a low-carbon future we'll need more and bigger batteries for electric vehicles and power grids. That means we'll need significant amounts of minerals like lithium, a key ingredient in battery technologies. Aluminium is light and strong – perfect for use in energy-efficient transportation.
Iron ore is essential too, not only for ongoing urbanisation, but also in the drive to net zero. In China, for example, around 50% of carbon emissions are attributable to buildings – 30% from construction materials like steel and cement, and the remaining 20% due to heating and cooling. With a shift to green steel you can improve building standards and reduce the intensity of emissions. By replacing reinforced concrete with green steel structures, carbon emissions in building construction can be reduced by up to 60%.
In addition, a large scale move to renewable energy will create additional demand for steel for the construction of a multitude of wind turbines and electricity infrastructure.
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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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