Better Health for All

Rio Tinto's core mining and processing operations have significant negative health impacts, evidenced by 33 environment-related offenses totaling over $52 million in penalties for water pollution, air pollution, and hazardous waste.

These widespread externalities persist despite the company's efforts to prevent and minimize impacts, including dust mitigation, land rehabilitation, and a partnership to reduce sea pollution risks. The company demonstrates industry-leading risk transparency by updating public tailings disclosures for "Very High" and "Extreme" facilities in August 2024, in accordance with GISTM and IMTSI requests. It also shows strong healthcare data responsibility by uplifting its Data Privacy Compliance Program, implementing a refined Privacy Impact Assessment process, and a new Privacy Statement. Furthermore, Rio Tinto invests in healthcare education, with the Oyu Tolgoi fund providing $6.4 million in 2024 towards improved medical and educational services, and the Simandou project focusing on health and education capacity building. The company's products do not have direct safety implications for users, resulting in a neutral score for user safety.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Rio Tinto is a mining company and does not offer consumer lending or deposit services, nor does it operate as a financial institution. Therefore, most KPIs related to financial products are not applicable. The company does not have a loan or insurance book, nor does it generate customer financial data or provide debt products to consumers. There are no APRs or fee structures to evaluate, and no revenue from high-cost financial products. Evidence of gender pay gaps in the mining sector relates to employee wages, not financial product pricing. Despite not being a financial institution, Rio Tinto engages in activities that contribute to economic opportunity. It offers financial literacy training through programs like the Aboriginal Training and Liaison (ATAL) program, which has supported 54 Aboriginal participants since 2023

, and capacity building programs in Mongolia with over 3,500 participants since 2018 . The company also makes significant economic contributions to local communities, including US$744 million in procurement from Umnugovi province between 2010 and 2021, supporting 85 local suppliers . The Gobi Oyu Development Support Fund has provided MNT 65.3 billion (U$27 million) since 2015, supporting over 273 projects, with an annual contribution of US$5 million . Additionally, Rio Tinto reported $95.9 million in social investment and $23.3 million in development contributions . However, the rubric's quantitative thresholds for these KPIs, which require percentages of "customers" or "pre-tax profit," cannot be met with the available data for a non-financial company.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

Rio Tinto recorded 22 substantiated labor-law or workplace safety violations in the past three years (2023-2025).

These include a $798,867.87 fine from WorkSafeBC in November 2025 for a repeated, high-risk safety violation at its Kitimat smelter, and two separate incidents in February 2025 resulting in over $710,000 in payments for subcontracted workers. WorkSafeBC also imposed a $783,000 penalty in June 2024 after a worker injury. Additionally, there were 18 workplace safety or health violations from MSHA across various subsidiaries during this period. The CEO-to-median employee pay ratio is 97:1. The group-level equal pay gap in 2024 was less than 1.5% in favor of men, meaning women earn at least 98.5% of men's pay for comparable roles. The employee satisfaction score (eSAT) was 74 in 2024.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Rio Tinto sourced 14.75% of its contestable spend from suppliers local to its operations in 2024, a decrease from 16.80% in 2023.

In 2024, the company spent A$926 million with 182 Indigenous businesses and A$1.3 billion with local suppliers across Australia. Additionally, A$769 million was spent with Indigenous-owned businesses in Western Australia. In North America, over $190 million was spent with Indigenous businesses in 2023. The START™ traceability program, launched in June 2025, provides independently verified data on up to 14 ESG metrics for specific products like IOC iron ore pellets and concentrate, aluminium, copper cathode, HPPI, and salt. Rio Tinto updated its Supplier Code of Conduct and Sustainability Procurement Principles in 2024, including new requirements on labour and human rights. In 2024, 6,359 third-party due diligence reviews were completed, with 174 escalated for human rights review. The company also completed 3 pilot audits of labour rights performance for suppliers in high-risk categories. All third parties undergo baseline screening, and facilitation payments are prohibited except when personal safety is threatened, requiring prompt reporting.

Honest & Fair Business

Rio Tinto operates an independently managed confidential reporting program called 'myVoice'.

This program allows employees, contractors, suppliers, and customers to report concerns anonymously via telephone and web submissions. The company's confidential reporting policy explains how concerns can be raised confidentially and without fear of retaliation, covering issues such as financial reporting, safety, environmental procedures, and other business integrity matters.

Kind to Animals

Rio Tinto has committed $16 million to the Makira Natural Park REDD+ project, which protects 372,000 hectares of forest, home to 17 lemur species and over 50% of Madagascar’s botanical diversity.

This project avoided deforestation of 6,000 hectares and restored 400 hectares of degraded forest between 2005-2013. The company also donated 395 hectares of rehabilitated land to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, providing habitat for over 400 elk. Other initiatives include establishing 2,095 hectares of protected conservation areas for lemurs in Madagascar, excluding 430 hectares of littoral forest from mine plans, and creating Mining Exclusion Zones with 50-meter buffers to protect troglofauna. Since 2002, annual fieldwork has monitored marine turtle populations in Western Australia, and since 2003, the company has worked on Yellow Crazy Ant eradication in Gove, Australia. Honeybees are relocated to a 31 km2 conservation area in California. The company also founded the Nechako White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative.

No War, No Weapons

Rio Tinto is committed to implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

and is a founding participant of the Voluntary Principles Initiative (VPI). The company publicly reports on its security processes and actions to uphold the VPSHR every year since 2017 , and in 2024, new training materials were developed for leaders. In 2023, 2,143 security personnel were trained on the VPSHR. Rio Tinto mandates annual security risk assessments under its Security Group Standard. Its procurement process includes a due diligence analysis of the human rights performance of all private security providers , and no non-conformances were identified in 2023 with Aluminium Stewardship Initiative or Copper Mark criteria related to human rights in security.

Planet-Friendly Business

Rio Tinto's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 were 605.3 Mt CO2e.

The company's emissions reduction targets for Scope 1 and 2 (50% by 2030 compared to 2018) are not certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). In 2024, 78% of its global electricity was sourced from renewables. The company uses high-quality carbon offsets, which are set to cover 10% of its 2018 emissions. In 2023, Rio Tinto recorded 8 environmental compliance violations, including water pollution, resulting in a $2 million fine. 23% of its managed operations are located in areas of elevated water stress. In 2024, 37 km2 of land was rehabilitated, representing 2.09% of its total disturbed land area of 1,762 km2. The company reports in line with the IFRS standard on climate-related disclosures (S2).

Respect for Cultures & Communities

The company experienced a significant cultural incident with the destruction of rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in May 2020.

This, along with a class action lawsuit in Papua New Guinea and a letter of claim in Madagascar, indicates multiple incidents impacting communities. The company's response to Juukan Gorge involved an independent audit across 37 assets and a commitment to adopt all recommendations, demonstrating a reactive response with active remediation. A formal cultural impact assessment protocol exists, and a Cultural Heritage Maturity Framework self-assessment was completed at over 25 sites. The company has five formal partnership agreements with Indigenous communities. For local employment, 75.6% of Newfoundland and Labrador employees are from Labrador West, and 64% of Quebec employees are from the Sept-Îles area. Grievance mechanisms are required at every asset and site-level mechanisms are in place, though an internal audit identified opportunities for improvement in 2021. In 2024, 14.75% of contestable spend was sourced from suppliers local to operations. More than 97.4% of employees globally completed 'Building Everyday Respect' training.

Safe & Smart Tech

Rio Tinto collects an extensive range of personal data, including sensitive categories such as political opinions and religious/philosophical beliefs, indicating collection of substantial unnecessary data.

In March, the company experienced a massive cyber-attack that resulted in the unauthorized leakage of employees' family information, company data, and payroll information. Rio Tinto states its global data privacy program reflects the EU General Data Protection Regulation and reforms in Australia and Canada. , and it complies with all relevant privacy laws, including specific CCPA rights, and does not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA. Individuals are afforded rights to access, rectify, delete, object to, or restrict their personal data, with contact methods provided for concerns. However, the company's website does not recognize "Do-Not-Track" requests. The company has improved its cyber security training and awareness program, including group-wide mandatory training and targeted campaigns. Cyber security is identified as a principal operational risk, with investments made in enhancing measures and a Risk Management Committee overseeing mitigation.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

In 2023, Rio Tinto's waste recovery rate was 0.95% of total waste generated

, representing a 43.03% decline from the previous year. The company implements multiple waste reduction initiatives, including a closed-loop aluminium recycling program and the development of Alextra cement using waste from aluminium smelting. Its drilling waste removal system received a certificate of merit in 2017 , and its Iron Ore Mineral Waste Management team won an INAP Best Practice award in 2018. Hazardous waste constituted 0.94% of total waste in 2023 , with waste oil treated for reuse and smelting waste reused for cement. Aluminium billets produced by Shawinigan Aluminium Inc. (SAI) contain more than 50% recycled content. Rio Tinto requires specific suppliers to provide aluminium scrap for remelting and assesses the environmental performance of new suppliers.