Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-largest mining company and a major polluter, came out in support of corporate efforts to curb emissions, insisting that pursuing green targets can add value.
“Despite the fragmented policy landscape, decarbonization can still be good economics,” Chief Executive Officer Jakob Stausholm said in an annual report on Wednesday. The miner’s projects typically “enhance the value of our business by reducing our exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices and higher carbon penalty costs,” he added.
His comments come as firms from Walmart Inc. to the Coca-Cola Co. defer or abandon climate and environmental ambitions, arguing policy settings and slow advances in technology are making planned emissions cuts unfeasible. Clients and suppliers “have faced some challenges” in decarbonizing their operations, HSBC Holdings Plc’s CEO Georges Elhedery said on Wednesday as the bank delayed some of its green targets.
“The challenge is not straightforward,” Rio’s Stausholm said in the report. “We need to navigate a complex, rapidly evolving regulatory landscape — but we are making progress and maintaining financial discipline.”
Stausholm outlined the producer’s annual earnings on Wednesday during a visit to Washington to meet with US legislators and others to better understand the Trump administration’s policy plans, which have included a sharp retreat from a global leadership role on climate action.
The miner’s gross scope one and two — or direct — emissions fell in 2024 and are on track to meet a target to cut pollution by 15% from 2018 levels by this year. Scope 3 emissions, the majority of which are tied to customers processing the firm’s iron ore, bauxite and alumina, rose slightly.
Rio’s spending on decarbonization activities rose to $589 million last year from $425 million in 2023, it said in the report.
Rival BHP Group, the world’s largest miner, last week reported a decline in operational emissions in the six months to Dec. 31 from the same period a year earlier.
Photograph: Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm; photo credit: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
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