Sustainability Practices in Business

Running Head: Sustainable Business Management 0 Sustainable Business Management 1 Sustainable business management Sustainable business Management Student’s Name Student’s Name 7/29/2019 7/29/2019 Contents Introduction 2 Overview of the Organization 2 Sustainability Practices 3 Sustainability Performance 4 Conclusion 6 References 7 Introduction A business consists of many stakeholders towards them the business has certain responsibilities. Sustainability practices of a company reduce the adverse impact of its activities on the environment. Overview of the Organization Rio Tinto is a global mining group and is counted as one of

Sustainable business Management
Running Head: Sustainable Business Management
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7 / 2 9 / 2 0 1 9
Student’s Name

Sustainable Business Management
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the Organization.........................................................................................................2
Sustainability Practices....................................................................................................................3
Sustainability Performance..............................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
A business consists of many stakeholders towards them the business has certain responsibilities.
These stakeholders include suppliers, customers, employees, shareholders, the environment, and
society. Sustainability efforts of a company reduce the adverse impact of its activities on the
environment. Therefore, different organizations are taking different steps to develop a
sustainable business. The organization selected for this report is Rio Tinto, which is an Anglo
Australian multinational company (Gaietta, 2016). In the presented report, an overview of the
company’s products and services will be discussed along with some failures that have been
reported in the past. In addition to this, sustainability efforts and practices of the company will
also be discussed. At last, comments will be made on the sustainability performance of the
organization.
Overview of the Organization
Rio Tinto is a global mining group and is counted as one of the largest mining and Metal
Corporation of the world. Some of the major products of the company are copper, iron core
aluminum, uranium, diamonds, and gold (Reuters, 2019). The company supply mineral and
metals which help the world to grow. The company is the largest producer of the natural colored
diamond. Rio Tinto operates different mines of its products at various places. Copper operation
of the company, supply products to the United States, Japan, and China and the company is
earning revenue from byproducts of copper mining that includes molybdenum, gold, and silver.
A largest integrated portfolio of iron ore assets of the globe is operating in the Pilbara region of
Western Australia and is owned by Rio Tinto (Pash, 2018). In conjunction with these products,
the company is also active in the sector of energy and minerals. Company has high-quality

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marketing, mining, and refining operations, which contribute to the daily lives of people.
Finding, mining, and processing of mineral resources of the earth are one of the leading focus of
the company (Riotinto, 2019a).
Although the company is continuously engaged in the sector of sustainability, yet for some of the
reasons, its product life cycle looks like unsustainable. It has been noted that during the
development process of the product, the company does not make enough focus on the security of
labor. In the year 2013, 40 workers died and later on, it was claimed by the national human rights
commission that this incident could be avoided (Industriall-union, 2014). Workers are exposed to
noise pollution that adversely affects their hearing capability. This is not the only incident but
apart from this too, many other incidents related to worker’s safety have also been reported. Poor
safety of workers is not the single issue but waste management is another issue that makes it
product life cycle unsustainable. Acid rock drainage hazard has been found in 24 of its mines
that is a big danger for local water sources. Because of these reasons, the product life cycle of
Rio Tinto is unsustainable.
Sustainability Practices
Company is actively engaged in the practices of sustainable development and taking many
significant steps in this direction. Reduction of Carbon Dioxide and environment impact is one
of the major objectives of Rip Tinto. While planning as well as operating its assets, the company
avoids, mitigate, remediate, and prevent adverse environmental impacts of its activities. The
company works on the principles of think global, act locally. Following this principle, the
company focus on the activities of each of its mine and believes that the same will support the
overall sustainability agenda of the company. In order to discuss sustainability best practices

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adopted by Rio Tinto, this is to state that the company is using real-time emission checking
technique to check the impact of the company’s activity on air quality. Further company is
making efforts for reusing waste gas as an alternative energy source. This effort reduces GHG
emissions. Since 2017, there is a decrease in greenhouse gas emission by 7.9%. Company is also
improving its water treatment capabilities because of that water can be used 21 more times.
The environmental impact of these activities are positive and the same can be proved by the fact
that carbon dioxide footprint of the company’s low-carbon aluminum – RenewAl™ is 3 times
lower in comparison to the industrial average. Company is considering not only the environment
but also making efforts to improve the position of society. The company focuses on different
social groups such as employees, customers, contractors, and host communities. Company has
developed a peer support program in 2012 that make focus on employee wellbeing and
thousands of employees are taking benefits of this program. By increasing gender diversity, the
company is promoting social values. The data presented hereby are actual evidence that the
efforts of the company have a real social and environmental impact. Although the company has
not reached up to the target, nevertheless its efforts are improving the status of women in the
organization as well as in society. In 2018, there were 22.6% percent of women in senior
management of the company in comparison to 2017 where this percentage was 22.4%.
Sustainability Performance
In the above-mentioned section, the focus has been made on sustainability practices pursued by
the company. Gender diversity, equality pay, employee wellbeing, human rights, ethics, and
integrity are some of the major areas that have been mentioned in the sustainability report of the
company. By looking up to the sustainability report of the company, one may check the

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performance of the organization. In its activities, the company is focusing on many global
sustainability goals such as quality education, climate actions, good health, well-being, decent
work, and economic growth and so on. Company balance occupational needs with the
requirement of the ecosystem. In 2018 the company has found opportunities to recycle 353,877
tonnes of non-mineral wastes and 740,249 tonnes of mineral waste. The company got a
significant reduction in air emission. This success can be understood by having a lookup to the
following diagram:-
(Riotinto, 2018b)
In 2018, the company’s Ore Mineral Waste Management Team has received International
Network for Acid Prevention (INAP) Best Practice award. Company is also reducing Hazardous
and non-hazardous waste. The company also received Excellence in Diversity Programs and
Performance Award at the 2018 Women in Resources National Awards (Constable, 2019). As
per the sustainability report of the company, in 2018, Rio Tinto was one of the top extractives
company in human rights benchmark. In 2018, the company has hired 31% of graduates from

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regions where the company is developing a new business. In such a situation, a company’s
sustainability reflects in its operations.
Conclusion
In order to complete this report, this is to states that Rio Tinto is contributing to the global
economy in aa very well versed manner. Although in the past some unsuitability has been seen in
its operation but the company has overcome from that situation. In past years, the company made
significant efforts in social, economic, and environmental directions and won many industrial
awards. It reduced its air emission and made the improved its wastewater management. Apart
from this company is also working in the area of community development and it is expected to
attain its sustainability targets in the coming future.

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References
Constable, T. (2019) Winning women in Australian resources recognised with national awards.
[online] Available from: http://minerals.org.au/news/winning-women-australian-resources-
recognised-national-awards [Accessed on 29/07/2019]
Gaietta, M. (2016) The Trajectory of Iran's Nuclear Program. New York: Springer.
Industriall-union. (2014) Exposing the ugly truth about Rio Tinto. [online] Available from:
http://www.industriall-union.org/exposing-the-uggly-truth-about-rio-tinto [Accessed on
29/07/2019]
Pash, C. (2018) The world’s largest robot just made its first delivery of iron ore in Western
Australia. [online] Available from: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/rio-tinto-robot-iron-
iron-ore-2018-7 [Accessed on 29/07/2019]
Reuters. (2019) Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX). [online] Available from:
https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/RIO.AX [Accessed on 29/07/2019
Riotinto (2019a) Our business. [online] Available from: https://www.riotinto.com/ [Accessed on
29/07/2019]
Riotinto (2019b) Sustainable development report. [online] Available from:
https://www.riotinto.com/documents/RT_2018_Sustainable_development_report.pdf [Accessed
on 29/07/2019]