Rio Tinto digs deep to repair planet and reputation with $7.5bn green vision

RIO Tinto’s new CEO today set out a $7.5 billion (£5.5 billion) vision to slash its carbon footprint as it seeks to repair its reputation from a run of operational setbacks and the Juukan Gorge scandal.

The FTSE 100 mining giant, whose metals underpin green technologies from wind turbines to electric vehicles, will plough proceeds from powering the global shift toward net-zero into cleaning up its own act.

It intends to drive a 50% reduction in group emissions by 2030 — up from a previous target of 15% — in a dramatic strengthening of commitments ahead of the COP26 summit later this month.

Jakob Stausholm, who took the reins in January in the boardroom fallout from the destruction of sacred Aboriginal shelters in Western Australia, said: “We’re starting an internal race toward decarbonising our own business, while grabbing the opportunities the clean energy transition represents.”

Among proposals set out today are plans to replace the use of natural gas powering its iron ore mines with wind and solar power, and electrification of its trucks, trains and mining equipment.

It is also developing technologies to help customers decarbonise, including the potential use of hydrogen and biomass as alternatives to coal in the power-hungry steelmaking process.

Dan Gocher, of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, said: “Rio Tinto has finally joined the party with some very ambitious targets.”