Mining giant Rio Tinto has come under pressure from investors and shareholder advocates after it was revealed that it is lobbying the Australian Labour government to prevent aspects of a new Nature Positive Plan from being rolled out.
The centre-left government in Australia is currently in the process of introducing new legislation aimed at enforcing existing environmental standards.
Industry executives, including Simon Trott, CEO of Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore division, have lobbied the Albanese government to prevent emissions disclosures and financial penalties from being included in the new legislation.
This has come to light following a Freedom of Information request by Greenpeace, which revealed a chain of letters sent by lobbyists to the Albanese government in March and April.
It contradicts the stance Rio Tinto publicly took at this year’s AGM in May, where it committed to enhancing disclosures of its Scope 3 emissions, a move that was widely welcomed as a success of institutional shareholder engagement.
As a result of these revelations, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), a shareholder advocacy group, has announced that it has ceased its year-long talks with the mining firm over climate lobbying.
Naomi Hogan, Company Strategy Lead at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), expressed dismay about the contradiction between Rio Tinto’s public stance and its lobbying activities, describing it as “hypocritical” and “a breach of trust.”
“ACCR views Rio Tinto’s heavy-handed advocacy to the prime minister as inconsistent with the company’s own commitments for enhanced climate advocacy and transparency.
“ACCR is now stepping away from an agreement to support climate and decarbonisation-related engagement with Rio Tinto. We will not participate in engagements that could rightly be perceived as greenwashing,” she said.
ACCR has held regular meetings with Rio Tinto since last year, and the company has apologised to ACCR for its lobbying activities. But the campaign group said a true test would be its actions going forward.
Net Zero Investor has approached M&G, UBS, and Robeco, the CA100+ lead investors for Rio Tinto, to request a comment.
A spokesperson for Robeco said: “We expect companies to be transparent in their lobbying activities and ensure they are aligning with their own and society’s environmental goals. We have a constructive dialogue with Rio Tinto and have a meeting scheduled imminently. We will be reminding them of our expectations and that lobbying activities are included in our assessment of Say on Climate votes.”
Major shareholders in the mining giant are the Aluminium Corporation of China, BlackRock, and Vanguard, according to Marketscreener, neither of these firms comment on engagement with specific companies.
Stewardship success: Rio Tinto commits to enhanced Scop 3 disclosures
