Our approach

Sustainable development

We incorporate sustainable development considerations into all our business plans and decisions. Find out how we respond to environmental stewardship, economic prosperity and social wellbeing responsibilities and imperatives, and about the strong governance systems under which we operate.

This section of the web site supplements the overview of our sustainable development programmes and results in the 2008 Annual report.

In focus

What is sustainable development?

Through our activities, mining and processing the Earth’s mineral resources, we have the ability to make a significant contribution to the major pillars of sustainable development: social wellbeing, environmental stewardship and economic prosperity within strong governance systems.

Life of our operations and products

Rio Tinto has a commitment to ensure our operations and products are developed and used appropriately throughout their lifecycle.