In the modern economy, environmental sustainability is one factor in how businesses can stand out and thrive. Each month, the Salt Lake Chamber will highlight a Utah business making positive strides for the environment and our natural resources to encourage support and innovation.
Our feature, Rio Tinto Kennecott, is guided by its mission to provide essential materials while driving innovation and producing minerals and metals used in everyday life safely and sustainably. We reached out to Nate Foster, Managing Director, to learn more about their ongoing sustainability efforts.
What does sustainability mean to Rio Tinto today?
Our approach to sustainability is guided by our purpose: finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs. It’s about driving innovation and continuous improvement to produce the minerals and metals used in everyday life in the safest and most sustainable way possible. That means reducing our carbon footprint, investing in renewable energy, improving air quality through reduced emissions and supporting the transition to a low-carbon future.
What do you see as Rio Tinto Kennecott’s role in building a more sustainable future?
We have a responsibility to extract the full value from the minerals and materials we produce in the safest and most sustainable ways possible. This includes minimizing our environmental impact, advancing decarbonization across our operations and helping our customers meet their own sustainability goals.
In what ways are you engaging with communities to make sure they benefit from your sustainability efforts?
We love working with and engaging communities in and around the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys. This summer, we invited the seven neighboring communities to visit Kennecott to learn more about the operation and our commitment to Utah. We share our sustainability efforts through partnerships with organizations such as the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, the Natural History Museum of Utah and Thanksgiving Point. We also collaborate with local schools, nonprofits and organizations to support education, cultural heritage and environmental stewardship.
How do you engage in sustainability amongst your customers?
We’re extremely proud that Kennecott was the first producer to receive the Copper Mark for responsible production. This means our customers are purchasing copper that has been assessed against 32 criteria covering the environment, community, business and human rights, labor and working conditions and governance. The Copper Mark is an independently verified assurance framework that adds transparency and credibility to our sustainability practices. By choosing Copper Mark-certified products, our customers can be confident they’re sourcing materials that align with their own sustainability goals.
Do you have a favorite simple strategy for sustainability in your own life?
For me, sustainability also starts with staying connected to nature. I was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Montana and was raised seeing what it truly meant to be a ‘steward of the land’ as my dad frequently said. So, respecting the land and water — and staying grounded — has always been important to me. That connection reminds me why sustainability matters.
To read other sustainability stories, click here.
