"Rio Tinto pledges $1.5 billion to be 'carbon neutral' by 2050", 26 February 2020

Mining giant Rio Tinto says it will invest $1.5 billion over five years in initiatives to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its global operations and become carbon-neutral by 2050.

[...]

Rio Tinto's updated targets include a 15 per cent reduction in absolute emissions below 2018 levels within the next 10 years.

It has also set a target of a 30 per cent reduction in "emissions intensity" – the emissions per unit of commodities it produces – below 2018 levels within 10 years.

Rio Tinto said it did not mine coal or extract oil and gas, and used renewable energy generation to power 76 per cent of electricity needs at its managed operations.

Chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said the net-zero target was a "massive undertaking".

"It means all of our future growth will need to be carbon neutral ... and we will need new technologies and partnerships," he said.

"We do not have a roadmap but we are working on it."

Asked whether Rio would use carbon offsets to achieve the goal, Mr Jacques said it would be a "last port of call".

"Our philosophy is to avoid generating CO2 in the first place," he said. "We are open to offsets but it would be the last port of call because we want to be part of the solution."

AustralianSuper, which owns shares in Rio Tinto, described the initiative as a "great demonstration of constructive engagement resulting in genuine outcomes on climate change".

[...]