While absolute results remain low overall, Rio Tinto shows one of the two stronger results in Business Conduct. The company publicly disclosing its taxes, its strategy relating to its presence in low-tax jurisdictions, and the tax benefits and tax holidays it receives. The company also discloses the payments it makes to sub-national and national governments, based on the Canadian and UK regulations on this issue. As an example of the company’s continuous improvement efforts since the RMI Report 2020, Rio Tinto has increased its public disclosure of the legal titles that grant it the rights to extract mineral resources on its mine sites.

Additionally, the company shows evidence of improved disclosure of information on land rehabilitation.

Rio Tinto is associated with several leading practices, including a management standard for risk assessments and measures to prevent outbreaks of vector-borne and infectious diseases, and public disclosure of legal titles granting the company the right to mine.

In the company-wide assessment, Rio Tinto’s results are above average for all thematic areas. Rio Tinto shows a relatively stronger result on the issue of monitoring the outcomes of involuntary resettlement. However, Rio Tinto’s overall results are limited by a lack of evidence of action on a number of issues, including for example tracking the quality of its relationships with affected communities, addressing the health and safety needs of women workers, and collaborating with sub-national governments on socio-economic development planning.

Rio Tinto ranks 12th among the 40 companies on its mine-site-level results, with an average score of only 12% in the mine-site assessment. Moreover, Rio Tinto’s results in the mine-site-level assessment are very variable, ranging from 6% to 18%. None of the eight sites show any relevant evidence on four of the fifteen issues covered: safety of communities, safety of workers, women workers, and living wage.