BUACC5934 Assignment: Critical Review of Sustainability Reports

This report provides a critical review of six research papers and the 2017 Rio Tinto sustainable development report, focusing on sustainability and environmental reporting. The selected papers explore various aspects, including corporate governance, environmental incidents, corporate social responsibility, and the environmental footprint of copper mining. The review analyzes the methodologies, findings, and implications of each paper, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The Rio Tinto report is critically discussed, examining its priorities, strategies, and performance data related to sustainable development. The analysis considers the company's efforts in community relationships, environmental protection, governance, and its value chain. The report evaluates the effectiveness of Rio Tinto's initiatives and their impact on various stakeholders, including employees, partners, shareholders, and the wider community. The overall aim of this report is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current trends and challenges in sustainability and environmental reporting within the business context.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Kathy Rao, K., Tilt, C. A., & Lester, L. H. (2012). Corporate governance and
environmental reporting: an Australian study. Corporate Governance: The
international journal of business in society, 12(2), 143-163.
The authors of the above article are Kathyayini Kathy Rao, Carol A. Tilt and Laurence H.
Lester. This article has published in the year 2012 (Rao, Tilt & Lester, 2012). The overall theme
of this article is to locate the very important factors about the corporate governance issues within
Australia. This has always been one of the most intriguing issues in the different organizations in
the country. The authors have tried to explore the impacts of the female directors in the board of
the companies (Rao, Tilt & Lester, 2012). In this paper the authors have taken up the quantitative
analysis approach to carry out the research work. Another factor i.e. also the main issue within
thi research paper is the fact regarding environmental reporting within the companies of
Australia. This environmental reporting has a very strong connection with that of corporate
governance regarding the different companies within Australia (Rao, Tilt & Lester, 2012).. This
research paper has been carried out on the basis of the 2008 annual Australian Stock Exchange
report. The gathered date has been measured and compared with the different measures of the
companies. Through this paper, the readers will be able to gain an insight over the regulators of
the companies and the strategists. Through this research paper, the positive connection between
the environmental reporting and governance through the female directors of the board has been
established.
da Costa, K. (2017). Corporate accountability in the Samarco chemical sludge
disaster. Disaster Prevention and Management, 26(5), 540-552.

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The author of the article is Karen da Costa. The publication of this year is 2017. This
research paper has evidently explored the different ways of the corporate accountability in case
of the disasters (da Costa, 2017). The example of the disaster that has been used in this research
paper is the Samarco chemical sledge disaster. This event had taken place in the year 2015 in
Brazil. Through the research work, the author has gone on to discuss about the corporate
accountability of the companies and the probable ways how it can be enhanced. This paper has
also focused on the one specific international mechanism that will enrich the entire system
indeed (da Costa, 2017). This research paper is mainly based on desk-research. It means that it
has been conducted on the proper analysis of all the documents rather than the fieldwork. In the
findings of this research paper, it has been seen how the organizations take up the perfect
measure to prevent the disasters (da Costa, 2017). In this paper, some insights have also been
given on the different communities and organizations on how they would act against these
disasters. Thus the corporate accountability would also be developed in a huge measure. These
measures are targeted to addresses the issues regarding human rights and environmental factors.
Azizul Islam, M., & Aminul Islam, M. (2011). Environmental incidents in a developing
country and corporate environmental disclosures: A study of a multinational gas
company. Society and Business Review, 6(3), 229-248.
This particular article has been published in the year 2011. The authors of the
organization are Muhammad Azizul Islam and Muhammad Aminul Islam (Islam & Islam, 2011).
This research paper has been drafted to address the different issues and measures that are taken
to improve the conditions of the environmental perspectives in the Niko Resources Ltd. This is
an international oil and gas company that was based in Canada. There were two environmental
blowouts in the gas field at Bangladesh in the year 2005 (Islam & Islam, 2011). The main

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purpose of the authors in this paper is to focus particularly on the disclosure strategy of Niko
relating with the concerns of the public. The failure in the disclosure strategy might have led to
the blowouts in the gas fields in Bangladesh. In this research paper, the authors have gone on to
discuss about the environmental incidents of Niko in Bangladesh and its contributions to the gas
blowouts and communication media properly (Islam & Islam, 2011). These are the reasons as to
why the different press releases have been taken into account with their annual reports as well. In
the findings of this research paper, it has been suggested that the non-financial environmental
disclosure of Niko has shown the reflection of the survival considerations (Islam & Islam, 2011).
This research paper has indeed been evaluated as one that has shown the company disclosure in
environmental issues and its impacts within the community.
Mayes, R., Pini, B., & McDonald, P. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and the
parameters of dialogue with vulnerable others. Organization, 20(6), 840-859.
The above article discusses about the corporate dialogues in which the other vulnerable
elements within the community (Mayes, Pini & McDonald, 2013). The dialogues and their
results on the marginalized external groups have been presented in this research report. The
primary of the business corporations should be to focus on the corporate social responsibility
through the corporate learning (Mayes, Pini & McDonald, 2013). The engagement within the
community should be always there because it has really been important for the business
organizations to promote the corporate social responsibility within their operations. This has
been the main source of motivation for the corporate public companies. In this article, the
discussions have been done on the corporate dialogues associated with the marginalized
stakeholders. This type of incident had taken place on January in the year 2009 when the AU$2.2
billion BHP Billiton Ravnethorpe Nickel mine in the rural Western Australia had been closed

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down suddenly (Mayes, Pini & McDonald, 2013). The implications and overall impacts of this
incident on the marginalized stakeholders have been gone through in this article. The notion of
John Roberts on the dialogue with vulnerable others has been discussed in this article as well.
The discourse analysis approach has been taken up in this research paper along with the data
spanning for the corporate public communications (Mayes, Pini & McDonald, 2013).
Northey, S., Haque, N., & Mudd, G. (2013). Using sustainability reporting to assess the
environmental footprint of copper mining. Journal of Cleaner Production, 40, 118-
128.
The authors of the article are Stephen Northey, Nawshad Haque and G. Mudd. This paper
had been published in the year 2013 (Northey, Haque & Mudd, 2013). In this research paper, the
authors have conducted their research analysis on the issues like energy consumption, emissions
of the Greenhouse gases, water intensity, and environmental footprints in the primary production
of copper in the global sphere. The research has been conducted based mainly on the primary
data. All the primary data have been collected from the sustainability reports of all the copper
producing mines in the world (Northey, Haque & Mudd, 2013). The data has also been gathered
from the companies and their operations as well. The copper mines from which the data has been
collected are from various nations like Peru, Chile, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Laos, Canada,
USA, Finland, South Africa, Turkey and other countries (Northey, Haque & Mudd, 2013).
Through the sustainability reports, one would be able to identify various sorts of fuel use through
the different types of vehicles. The findings of the research report have suggested that the
intensity of energy was between 10- 70 GJ/ t Cu. The average intensity of the energy was around
22 GJ/ t Cu (Northey, Haque & Mudd, 2013). The varieties of water intensity had been recorded
because of differences in the reporting methods.

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Schoenberger, E. (2016). Environmentally sustainable mining: The case of tailings storage
facilities. Resources Policy, 49, 119-128.
The author of the above article is Erica Schoenberger. The report had been published in
the year 2016 (Schoenberger, 2016). In this report the author has addressed the issue of the
mining to be done in the manner that will find out the remedies of the environmental impacts.
This will be largely helpful for the organizations to find out the ways in which the local people
will be able to live in a better manner and be free of the environmental pollution in their regions.
The focus has been put on the tailings storage facilities (TCF) to get a better view on the subject
(Schoenberger, 2016). The tailings storage facilities have been regarded as one of the most
useful sources for the disasters in the mines. The research has been done on the three mines. Two
of those mines had been resulted in the disasters. On the contrary, the third mine had great
success indeed. It has been found out through the research work that the failures of the TCF were
mainly political and not technical at all. There have been many challenges in the TCFs but this
has to be overcome for the better outcomes in the future (Schoenberger, 2016). The social
scientific analysis in the resrarch paper has suggested focusing more on engineering prospects.
Review of the Rio Tinto Sustainable development report 2017
In the sustainable development of Rio Tinto 2017, it has been said that the main priority
of the report has been put on the overall safety of the people within the community. The process
safety has always been a major focus of the company (Riotinto.com. 2019). Therefore, this report
has been very evident in finding out the gaps in which they have lagged behind to provide safety
for the people. Through this effort, they will be able to bridge the gaps and make the system
more prominent for the engineers and the people within the community as well. In the

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sustainability development report of 2017. it has been said that they always play a vital role in
the progress of the human progress. The organization’s role has always been considered as a
crucial one in providing the benefits to the common people. Hey also look at the overall well
being of the partners in the joint venture, shareholders, internal and external stakeholders,
suppliers, customers and the entire society as well (Riotinto.com. 2019).
The steps taken up by the company are quite helpful for the overall development of the
community. Their activities have always been influential for the people and it has been
acclaimed by the different communities as well. The surrounding communities and the
environment have been largely affected by the initiatives taken up by Rio Tinto (Riotinto.com.
2019). Their attributes to the sustainable development of the community is very much linked
with the commercial results of the organization. The aim of the organization is to provide the
long-term success in the competitive business environment (Riotinto.com. 2019). Therefore, they
have always put the emphasis on the sustainability of the community without harming anyone.
The implementation of the technology s always efficient and this has been used for the benefits
of the people. The aim of reducing the environmental footprint is a very commendable initiative
for the organization (Riotinto.com. 2019). Through the development of the sustainability for Rio
Tinto, they have always looked at the business strategy of the organization and deliver it through
their business life cycle.
After going through the sustainability development report, the critics are of the opinion
that their business strategies have been effective enough for the solidarity of the entire
community. The strategic focus of Rio Tinto has been very helpful for the development and
support for the community. The primary focus of the company has always been on the people,
partners, performance and portfolio (Riotinto.com. 2019). The ‘partner-to-operate’ approach of

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Rio Tinto has been very much crucial for the organization to develop the awareness among the
shareholders. These policies will also benefit the external stakeholders by all the means. Their
internal policies will also gain success because of their broader network within the business
operations (Riotinto.com. 2019). The mentions of showing respect to all the people, motivating
all the people for teamwork, aligning the business by implementing the code of conduct for the
betterment of their business operations. So, it is definitely very positive for the undertaking of
the business in the right ways. The integrity and excellence of the workers is always respected
and this paves the way for the organizational brilliance in the best ways. The values and norms
practiced by the organization Rio Tinto will be crucial for them to conduct their business
operations. The economic, social and cultural values are respected and implemented in the right
ways by Rio Tinto (Riotinto.com. 2019). Critics definitely believe that this approach will impact
very positively for the organization.
The entire business life cycle conducted by the business operations of Rio Tinto will be
judged on the basis of their contribution of the enhancement of the environment. The steps
followed by Rio Tinto are quite rigorous and very easy to convince the people associated in the
entire business process (Riotinto.com. 2019). Their efficient configuration in the mining process
will definitely be valuable enough for the customers and shareholders. Their integrity in
providing the best products to their customers should be highly respected indeed. The efforts of
Rio Tinto to minimize all the risks are beneficial by all the means. They do not let themselves
move out from their focus (Riotinto.com. 2019). This can only be done when they will look to
make efforts for the overall well being of the people. The supportive culture for the people will
always be helpful for Rio Tinto to progress in their business operations. In the following years,
Rio Tinto will look for further sustainable development. Their committed team will provide all

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their best efforts to support their strategies and create the global success for themselves. The
refreshment of the environmental standards will always cater for greater biodiversity
(Riotinto.com. 2019). So, this will help to save the plants and animals within the environment.
Thus it can be said that the sustainable development report of Rio Tinto is very hopeful to bring
in a change for a better tomorrow.

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References List
Azizul Islam, M., & Aminul Islam, M. (2011). Environmental incidents in a developing country
and corporate environmental disclosures: A study of a multinational gas
company. Society and Business Review, 6(3), 229-248.
da Costa, K. (2017). Corporate accountability in the Samarco chemical sludge disaster. Disaster
Prevention and Management, 26(5), 540-552.
Kathy Rao, K., Tilt, C. A., & Lester, L. H. (2012). Corporate governance and environmental
reporting: an Australian study. Corporate Governance: The international journal of
business in society, 12(2), 143-163.
Mayes, R., Pini, B., & McDonald, P. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and the parameters
of dialogue with vulnerable others. Organization, 20(6), 840-859.
Northey, S., Haque, N., & Mudd, G. (2013). Using sustainability reporting to assess the
environmental footprint of copper mining. Journal of Cleaner Production, 40, 118-128.
Riotinto.com. (2019). Retrieved 18 September 2019, from
http://www.riotinto.com/documents/RT_SD2017.pdf
Schoenberger, E. (2016). Environmentally sustainable mining: The case of tailings storage
facilities. Resources Policy, 49, 119-128.