Better Health for All
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Rio Tinto's core mining operations have caused severe, widespread health damage, including contaminated local water supplies with dangerous uranium levels impacting over 15,000 people, and abandoned mines causing serious health issues for thousands.
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Operations are linked to toxic waste, heavy metal contamination, and harmful emissions.
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The QMM mine in Madagascar released 1 million m³ of contaminated water in 2022, killing thousands of fish, and the company exceeded permissible dust levels at monitoring stations.
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The company's safety record shows 12 fatalities in 2024, a 44% increase in new occupational illnesses (147 recorded), widespread sexual abuse allegations, and 48% of employees experiencing bullying.
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While QMM operations negatively impacted over 15,000 people, QMM also supported a community health mission facilitating free access to essential medical care for over 19,000 patients.
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Rio Tinto IOC donated $50,000 to Hope Air, providing 220 travel arrangements for low-income Canadians in 2024.
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The company has substantial health equity programs, with a total voluntary global social investment of $95.9 million in 2024, including a $27.5 million partnership for children's health and a $52 million investment since 2015 to the Gobi Oyu Development Support Fund.
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Rio Tinto identifies major hazard risks, conducts occupational and industrial hygiene monitoring, and is improving air quality monitoring.
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It promotes a healthy lifestyle, provides mental health training, and implemented 7 projects in 2024 to reduce employee exposure to health risks.
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The company has comprehensive mental health programs, including a global EAP and a Peer Support Program with 1,650 trained supporters covering 100% of employees.
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It achieved a Tier 2 rating in the 2024 CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark, ranking as the 4th top improver.
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Rio Tinto is uplifting its Data Privacy Compliance Program and uses data for employee health and safety.
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Fair Money & Economic Opportunity
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Rio Tinto is a mining company and does not offer lending or deposit services to consumers, nor does it operate as a financial institution.
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Therefore, KPIs related to financial products, customer financial data, lending practices, or debt burden are not applicable. Evidence provided pertains to general community contributions, supplier spend, workforce diversity, and training programs, which do not directly align with the specific financial services focus of the 'Fair Money & Economic Opportunity' value's KPIs.
Fair Pay & Worker Respect
-40
In 2024, Rio Tinto's CEO pay ratio to median employee was 97:1.
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The company reported an All-Injury Frequency Rate (AIFR) of 0.37 per 2,000,000 hours in 2024.
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However, there were 5 fatalities at managed operations in 2024, and 4 employees died in a plane crash in January 2026.
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In 2022, potentially fatal incidents rose to 19.
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The 2024 group-level equal pay gap was less than 1.5% in favor of men, and the gender pay gap was less than 1% in favor of women (excluding incentive pay).
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In Australia, the 2023/2024 average base salary pay gap was 0.5% in favor of women.
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However, in the UK, the mean hourly gender pay gap was 24% in favor of men in April 2024, and the median hourly gender pay gap was 17.1% in favor of men.
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The Employee Satisfaction (eSAT) score was 74 in 2024.
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In the past three years, the company has faced a criminal case for alleged violations of the Mine Health and Safety Act at its Diavik Diamond Mine.
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A 2024 external review found that 39% of workers experienced bullying, 7% reported sexual harassment and racism, and 8 people reported sexual assault or attempted sexual assault in the past year.
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Since 2000, the company has accumulated 6 labor relations violations with penalties totaling $3,026,897 and 117 workplace safety or health violations with penalties totaling $1,281,251.
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Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing
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Rio Tinto spent A$926 million with Indigenous businesses across Australia in 2024, out of a total A$17.7 billion spent with Australian businesses, representing approximately 5.2% of the procurement budget.
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In Western Australia, A$769 million was spent with Indigenous-owned businesses in 2024, out of a total A$10.3 billion spent with suppliers in WA, which is approximately 7.5%.
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Honest & Fair Business
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No specific, quantifiable evidence was found in the provided articles for any of the KPIs in the 'Honest & Fair Business' rubric. While the articles mention the existence of external auditors
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, disclosure controls
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, and independent reports on specific issues like cultural heritage management
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and environmental incidents
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, they do not provide the precise data points required by the rubric's quantitative thresholds, such as total regulatory fines in the last three years, a recognized transparency index score, the percentage of ethical claims verified, or the average number of financial restatements.
Kind to Animals
-50
Rio Tinto has committed $16 million to the Makira Natural Park REDD+ project, which protects 372,000 hectares of forest and 17 lemur species.
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The company rehabilitated 37 km2 of land in 2024, planted 1 million trees, and decreased its land footprint by 51 km2.
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It also donated 395 hectares of rehabilitated land to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, supporting a herd of over 400 elk, and established 2,095 hectares of protected conservation areas at QIT Madagascar Minerals.
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The company rehouses bees to 31 km2 of conservation land and works to protect marine turtles, northern quolls, and advances palm cockatoo research.
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However, Rio Tinto's public policy engagement on animal welfare is limited, with participation in industry forums and support for basic reforms, but no clear leadership position. The company completed 3 pilot audits across key operating regions for suppliers, but no percentage of animal-related suppliers audited is provided.
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In animal agriculture ethics, the company supports communities in practicing more sustainable agriculture to avoid deforestation, but this is a minimal effort related to animal welfare.
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For animal-free R&D collaboration, the company partners with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Everland on the Makira Natural Park project, which is a form of collaboration but not specifically on animal-free testing or sourcing standards.
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No War, No Weapons
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Rio Tinto publicly reports annually on its security processes and actions to uphold the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR).
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In 2023, 2,143 security personnel were trained on VPSHR, an increase from 1,532 in 2022.
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The company mandates annual site security risk assessments and conducts onsite third-party validations for priority operating and refining assets, with 12 completed in 2023.
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A security and human rights addendum, developed in line with the VPSHR, has been included in contractual agreements with suppliers providing guarding services since December 2015.
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In 2024, new training materials were developed to enhance leaders' understanding of the VPSHR.
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Planet-Friendly Business
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Rio Tinto's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions were 605.3 Mt CO₂e in 2024, comprising 30.7 Mt CO₂e for Scope 1 and 2, and 574.6 Mt CO₂e for Scope 3.
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The company's Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets are aligned with a 1.5°C pathway, but there is no explicit mention of these targets being SBTi-validated.
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The company aims for net-zero emissions from operations by 2050.
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In 2024, 78% of operational electricity consumption was sourced from renewables, an increase from 71% in 2023.
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Rio Tinto plans to limit the use of carbon credits to 10% of its 2018 emissions baseline, and approximately 15% of assessed projects met its high-integrity criteria in 2024.
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The company committed $200-350 million to steel decarbonization initiatives between 2025-2027 and spent $589 million on decarbonization in 2024.
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Rio Tinto partners with 50 of its highest-emitting suppliers to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions, but there is no data on the percentage of suppliers with SBTi targets or the depth of supply chain climate transparency.
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The company has 33 environment-related offenses since 2010, with a total penalty of $52,298,604, including multiple water pollution violations in 2025 and 2023, and eight counts of violating the Fisheries Act in Canada in 2023.
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Rio Tinto has invested $16 million in the Makira Natural Park REDD+ Project, covering 372,000 hectares, and aims to enable 500,000 hectares of high-integrity nature-based solutions by the end of 2025.
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Elevated water stress affects 23% of managed operations, with 3% of this demand sourced from freshwater resources.
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The company's high-integrity criteria for nature-based solutions include governance, social, and ecological safeguards, aiming to support community livelihoods and respect human rights, and invest in enhancing farmers' adaptive capacity to climate change impacts.
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Respect for Cultures & Communities
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Rio Tinto has over 100 land access agreements and ten mine regional development agreements, and 12 active long-term impact benefits/participation agreements in Canada.
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However, the company was responsible for the destruction of rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in May 2020.
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A formal Cultural Heritage Management System (CHMS) and Plan (CHMP) are in place, but an independent audit in 2021-2022 identified areas for improvement, suggesting inconsistent implementation.
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The company reported 14.75% of contestable spend sourced from suppliers local to operations in 2024, a decrease from 16.80% in 2023.
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In 2024, Rio Tinto spent A$926 million with Indigenous suppliers in Australia and $206 million with Indigenous suppliers in Canada.
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The company has a target for 100% of employees in high-risk human rights roles to complete job-specific human rights training annually by 2024.
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Safe & Smart Tech
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Rio Tinto experienced a data breach in March 2023, stemming from a third-party security incident at GoAnywhere, a file transfer tool.
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The breach compromised payroll information, employee overpayment summaries, child support materials, names, and addresses of a small number of former and current Australian employees.
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The underlying zero-day vulnerability was discovered on January 30 and patched by Fortra on February 7, with Rio Tinto revealing the attack on March 23.
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The company states it invests in enhancing cybersecurity measures, information systems, and technology infrastructure, and has improved its group-wide mandatory cybersecurity training and awareness program.
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Rio Tinto is implementing new technology solutions to improve cyber threat detection and response for critical assets and is maturing third-party risk management through contractual inclusions and proactive compliance assessments.
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The company maintains technical, security, and organizational measures to protect personal data and retains personal data only as long as necessary.
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Its global data privacy program reflects the EU General Data Protection Regulation and reforms in Australia and Canada, and it complies with all relevant laws in the collection, use, and protection of personal information.
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Individuals have rights to access, rectify, delete, object to, or restrict the processing of their personal data, and California residents have specific rights under the CCPA, including the right to know, correct, and opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information.
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Rio Tinto does not "sell" or "share" Personal Information or Sensitive Information related to California residents.
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Zero Waste & Sustainable Products
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Rio Tinto recovers over 85% of byproducts in Quebec, excluding bauxite residues.
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The SAI recycling center produces aluminum billet with more than 50% recycled content.
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The company has implemented several waste reduction initiatives, including a two-phased project at the Vaudreuil alumina refinery to filter and reduce bauxite residue waste, a drilling waste removal system, and an Iron Ore Mineral Waste Management team.
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Rio Tinto Fer et Titane inc. was convicted of eight counts of violating the Fisheries Act and Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations, including depositing deleterious substances and failing to take samples, resulting in a $2,000,000 fine.
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The company has company-wide waste reduction targets for Scope 1 and 2 emissions, aiming for a 50% reduction by 2030.
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Rio Tinto also continuously improves due diligence mechanisms and assesses the environmental performance of new suppliers.
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The Arvida plant exceeded its monthly emission limit for dust and fluoride in pot rooms in April 20XX, though it remained compliant with daily and annual limits.
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