Write to Rio and tell them to cut all ties with the Minerals Council
In a report released recently, Rio Tinto publicly admitted that the Minerals Council has advocated to undermine the Paris Agreement.
And at their AGM recently, Simon Thompson, the chair of Rio’s board said:
“I am very conscious of the strength of feeling on this topic and I do recognise that there is a lively debate between many of our shareholders about whether to stay in an industry association and actively engage with members on climate or whether we should simply refuse…”
“…we are aware of a few instances where the MCA’s (Minerals Council of Australia) advocacy has not matched its stated policy and of course, that is frustrating…”
Rio claims to be a climate champion – they support the Paris Agreement and have a net zero emissions by 2050 target.
This is the best opportunity we’ve had yet to call on Rio to leave the Minerals Council for good. With a bit of extra public pressure, we could potentially get them over the line.
You can get in touch with Rio in a range of ways:
- Send them a message on their Facebook page or comment on one of their recent climate posts
- You can tweet at them @RioTinto or reply to one of their tweets
- You can jump on their Instagram, DM them or comment on their latest posts
- Email them at company.secretarial@riotinto.com and ask them to pass the message on to the Chair of the Board.
You should make the message personal, have a quick read through their report and then here are some examples of things you might like to write:
- Hi Rio! I just read that you weren’t that impressed with the Minerals Council’s behaviour around Kyoto carry over credits and the Paris Climate Agreement – they’re only going to get worst, so will you cancel your membership so we can get on with climate action now?
- The Minerals Council has a terrible track record for holding back action on climate change, and I know you want to be a climate leader, doing your bit to bring down emissions. Any good you do will be undone by the Minerals Council who are wedded to their coal members. It’s time to cut all ties now.
- Hey Rio – I was really impressed with your commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. Unfortunately any good you do as a company will be made redundant by your membership of the Minerals Council who have worked to undermine action on climate change for the last 20 years.