Shareholders in global miner Rio Tinto have rebuked the company over its climate stance, with 37% voting at a meeting in Australia for a resolution that would require it to set binding emissions targets.
While the resolution did not pass, its sponsor, environmental group Market Forces, said it attracted six times as much support as an identical one put up at the same meeting last year.
The vote “shows investors have woken up to Rio Tinto’s obfuscation and the huge risks to its business from climate change and transition,” Market Forces executive director Julien Vincent said.
It comes after more than half of shareholders in Australia’s largest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum, last week called on the company to set science-based emissions targets.
In April, almost half of shareholders in the country’s second-biggest oil and gas company, Santos, voted for a similar resolution.
Activist investors have also poured pressure on Rio Tinto’s rival, BHP, to quit the Minerals Council of Australia over the industry body’s stance on global heating – pressure the company has so far resisted.
The meeting of shareholders in the Australian-listed half of Rio Tinto followed a similar meeting by UK shareholders in April.
In its resolution, Market Forces called on Rio Tinto to set annual targets for greenhouse gas emissions and disclose its performance against those targets.
These would have included emissions classified as scope 3 – those which are produced by Rio Tinto’s customers.
BHP has committed to setting scope 3 targets and linking them to executive pay.
But although Rio Tinto has said it wants to hit zero net emissions by 2050, and has struck a deal with its biggest Chinese iron ore customer to cut greenhouse gases, it has consistently refused to set scope 3 targets.
“Rio’s scope 3 emissions are massive – comparable to the carbon footprint of Australia,” Vincent said.
“This is a staggering level of climate risk for any company, and hence for any investor, to bear.
“With rival miners such as BHP, Vale and Glencore having already committed to set scope 3 targets, Rio has no excuse for its current policy vacuum.”
Rio Tinto chairman Simon Thompson said the majority of the company’s shareholders were “supportive of our overall approach and our position that it is not viable to set scope 3 emission reduction targets, as they relate to the emissions of our customers”.
“We will continue to engage with our investors and other stakeholders on this topic,” he said.
“Rio Tinto believes the most effective climate change action will be delivered through partnerships between industry, government and society.”
