Rio Tinto and China Baouw partner to boost environmental performance
Rio Tinto has signed an agreement with China’s largest steel producer China Baouw to develop new methods to reduce carbon emissions and improve environmental performance.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed between the two companies at the China International Steel and Raw Materials Conference in Qingdao, will aim to support the implementation of new initiatives across the steel value chain.
The MOU will enable the formation of a joint working group tasked with identifying a pathway to support the goal of reducing carbon emissions across the entire steel value chain, which accounts for between seven and nine per cent of the world’s carbon emissions. The working group will establish a joint action plan on how to best utilise the complementary strengths in research and development, technologies, processes, equipment, logistics, industry coordination and policy advisory capacities to combat climate change and improve environmental performance.
Rio Tinto Chief Executive, J-S Jacques commented: “This pioneering partnership across the steel value chain will bring together solutions to help address the steel industry’s carbon footprint and improve its environmental performance.
“The materials we produce have an important role to play in the transition to a low carbon future and we are committed to partnering with our customers and others to find the most sustainable ways to produce, process and market them. We are already doing this in aluminium and now, through this partnership, we will be doing it in the steel industry.
“We thank CISA for its support and look forward to collaborating with China’s largest steel producer, China Baowu, and Tsinghua University, a global leader in climate change research and collaboration.”
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China Baowu Chairman, Chen Derong said: “China Baowu is committed to ecological and sustainable development. We will promote sustainable production through intelligent manufacturing. We want to make a difference to the iron and steel ecosystem by developing greener factories and enterprises to deliver a cleaner, more sustainable steel industry. China Baowu looks forward to exploring low-carbon metallurgical innovation with Rio Tinto and Tsinghua University, and building a low-carbon industrial value chain. We hope to jointly address climate challenges with our partners, and create a model of harmonious coexistence between cities and steel mills.”
Tsinghua University Vice President You Zheng added: "Tsinghua is committed to providing solutions to climate change challenges and contributing wisdom to sustainable development. Initiating the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate is an important milestone, and just one example. The signing will enable us to work closely with the upstream and downstream of the steel industry value chain to jointly find the solution to the industry’s low- carbon transformation."
