Article by Simone Grogan courtesy of Business News.
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm has spoken candidly about the miner’s pledge to reduce emissions, saying in hindsight he regrets setting a target for as soon as 2025.
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm has spoken candidly about the miner’s pledge to reduce emissions, saying in hindsight he regrets setting a target for as soon as 2025.
Mr Stausholm backed in the big miner’s commitment to playing its part in addressing climate change while taking questions about Rio’s plans to decarbonise at an event this morning, but said it had to be ‘realistic on what it takes’.
He referenced his company’s current efforts to build a 34 megawatt solar farm to power its new Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in the Pilbara, indicating it was easy to underestimate the process and space the project needed.
“I don’t think people realise the amount of land that is necessary,” he said.
“First of all you need to get the land, you need to go through cultural clearance, you need to set up projects and execute projects, it’s going to take time, which is fine.
“I just think sometimes people believe it’s a two or three-year project.”
In 2021, Rio committed to spending $7.5 billion on wind and solar to help reduce its direct and indirect carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, more than triple its previous target.
At the same time, the company also brought forward ambitions to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 15 per cent from 2030 to 2025, a decision Mr Stausholm revealed today he regretted.
“If I look at hindsight at our targets, I completely stick to the targets we have set but I probably regret that I set a target for 2025,” he said.
Despite the admission, Mr Stausholm assured that Rio would meet its emissions pledges but warned it would be a hard road getting there.
“We will reach our targets, but it will be hard and we will have to make hard choices this year.”
The comments come the day after Mr Stausholm fronted investors and media at the miner’s 2023 annual general meeting in Perth yesterday.
Mr Stausholm spoke on Rio’s Simandou project in Guinea – widely considered one of the largest untapped iron ore resources globally – hosing down concerns that it could threaten iron ore operations in WA.