Environmental Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship

The assignment discusses the environmental harm caused by Rio Tinto, a metals and mining corporation, and examines the concept of social entrepreneurship as a means to address these problems. It provides recommendations for Rio Tinto to reduce their environmental impact and promotes the importance of environmental responsibility.

Reflective
journal
Entrepreneurship

Introduction
Social entrepreneurship is the process of building enterprises that work towards addressing
social, cultural or environmental issues1. Social entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in the
longer term survival of our society. There are various leading social entrepreneurs that have been
putting efforts in making this world a better place. Their journeys are a source of inspiration and
continue to improve the sustainability of the world.
Muhammad Yunus is a social entrepreneur who launched The Grameen Bank which is aimed at
providing microfinance to those in need in order to make them self-sufficient. The man has also
shared his expertise on micro financing and social capitalism through a number of books. The
bank has a net income of over $10 million2.
Similarly, Scott Harrison founder of the non-profit organization ‘Water’ has been working
towards shortening the bridge between the clean water and people. The lack of clean water and
the dearth faced by his fellow mates inspired him to work towards this change and currently this
charity has delivered clean drinking water to more than a million people in 17 different countries.
Organization: Rio Tinto
Description of the event
Rio Tinto has recently been in the news for the amount of havoc the organization has caused to
the environment. The metals and mining corporation has had to shut to down various mines due
to the extent of pollution caused by them. The organization’s actions are continuing to harm the
environment and its people even today3. The nature of Rio Tinto’s work makes a certain extent
of pollution understandable. However, the magnitude of the damage done by Tinto has surely
crossed a line.
1 Todres, M. (2016). Exploring The'Social'In Social Entrepreneurship: Applying the Concept of Network
Sociality to Social Entrepreneurs (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kent).
2 Yunus, M. (2015). Profit-Not for Profit Convergence to Achieve Sustainable Value. A Conversation with
Muhammad Yunus. Review of Environment, Energy and Economics-Re3.
3 Cánovas, C. R., Olías, M., & Nieto, J. M. (2014). Metal (loid) attenuation processes in an extremely
acidic river: the Rio Tinto (SW Spain). Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 225(1), 1795.

Feelings
It disheartens me to see such leading names being so discreet about these issues. I feel that it is of
utmost importance that we take a certain amount of responsibility for the environment that we
live in. While researching about this project, I came across this issue and I have tried to dig
deeper on the same. It is largely demotivating to see such a respected organization running away
from its responsibility and showing a lack of efforts towards fixing the destruction caused.
Actors involved
There are various actors involved in the process. This includes Rio Tinto Authorities and their
top management who are primarily responsible for the situation that has been created. Secondly,
the local population of the mining areas like Bougainville who are directly impacted by the
current state of the area are also important actors in the process. Thirdly, the government’s role is
also crucial because that is the body which forms rules and regulations that prevents
organizations from harming the environment above and beyond a certain level. Therefore
Australian government’s department of environment and energy is also an important actor.
Lastly, all of us as individuals and residents of this planet are actors to this problem as it is sure
to impact us all in the longer run.

Evaluation: Rio Tinto’s efforts on the situation
Rio Tinto has also taken a few steps to compensate for the damage created by them. The
organization is preparing for a low carbon future. The company supports the Paris agreement.
They are working towards substantial decarbonisation of their business by 2050. The
organization is also working towards responsible water management and minimizing biodiversity
impacts
Analysis
The impact of the social initiative by Rio Tinto has helped the environment and also worked at
saving the organization’s brand positioning in the public eyes. There has been a 7% decrease in
the company’s greenhouse gas emissions intensity since 2015 (Rio Tinto, 2018)4.
Conclusions: My Learnings from the experience
Through this research I have learnt that the organization has been putting certain efforts to save
our planet and enhance their productivity as a firm. However, the amount of damage done is
catastrophic and it will be very difficult for the planet to recover the price that it is paying for Rio
Tinto’s business. I have also learnt that it takes a very long time for any part of earth to recover,
once it has been damaged by us. Therefore even a small action that may harm the planet must be
very well thought of.
Action: Recommendations for the future
There are various efforts that Rio Tinto could have made in order to fulfill their responsibility
towards the planet. The damage done cannot be immediately repaired but some efforts can
definitely made to lower the impact of the same in the short term as well as in the long term. The
recommendations to Rio Tinto are as below:
4 Rio Tinto, 2018, ‘Protecting the environment’,
http://www.riotinto.com/ourcommitment/protecting-the-environment-21468.aspx,
retrieved on 13 March, 2018.

1. Keep pollution controls in check throughout the entire mining process.
2. Bring together a strict and focused board of people whose sole responsibility would be to
keep the environmental impacts of the Tinto’s actions in check.
3. Build green offices like Adobe which have effective waste management, carbon
reduction and plastic disposal techniques in place5.
4. Provide training to employees regarding the impact of the company’s actions on the
environment
5. Promote environment friendly behavior in offices: Use low energy consuming lights, use
email for internal communication, avoid printing papers, replace plastic cups by steel,
aluminum, copper, paper or glass cups and finally install waste disposal and water saving
technologies.
Conclusion
Through this research, I have learnt the role of social entrepreneurship. Had it not been for so
many social entrepreneurs across the globe, the environment’s situation would have been much
worse. There are leading organizations that are harming the environment. The large amount of
time taken by the planet to recover from the current damage will make it even more difficult for
us to survive. Therefore, it is about time that we work towards recovering from our current
scenario rather than making it worse.
5 Nieuwenhuis, M., Knight, C., Postmes, T., & Haslam, S. A. (2014). The relative benefits of green versus
lean office space: Three field experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 20(3), 199.

References
Cánovas, C.R., Olías, M. and Nieto, J.M., 2014. Metal (loid) attenuation processes in an
extremely acidic river: the Rio Tinto (SW Spain). Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 225(1), p.1795.
Nieuwenhuis, M., Knight, C., Postmes, T. and Haslam, S.A., 2014. The relative benefits of green
versus lean office space: Three field experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Applied, 20(3), p.199.
Rio Tinto. 2018. ‘Protecting the environment’. Available from
http://www.riotinto.com/ourcommitment/protecting-the-environment-21468.aspx. Accessed on
13 March, 2018.
Todres, M., 2016. Exploring The'Social'In Social Entrepreneurship: Applying The Concept of
Network Sociality To Social Entrepreneurs (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kent).
Yunus, M., 2015. Profit-Not for Profit Convergence to Achieve Sustainable Value. A
Conversation with Muhammad Yunus. Review of Environment, Energy and Economics-Re3.