Daily ESG Briefing: Rio Tinto board to lead review after destruction of Aboriginal heritage site

Rio Tinto has launched a board-led review of its heritage management processes following the destruction of a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site in May. The review will recommend improvements to the effectiveness of internal processes and governance. The mining company says the review will seek input from Rio Tinto employees as well as the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people. The company has faced criticism since destroying two sites in Western Australia’s Pilbara region as part of a mine expansion.

Carbon Tracker has named Eni, Repsol and BP as the oil companies with the most credible climate strategies, while Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil are lagging. In a study of the seven oil majors, plus Equinor and Respol, the think-tank identifies Eni as the leader.  

Calvert Research and Management has launched the Calvert Institute for Responsible Investing, a new research institute dedicated to advancing, understanding and promoting best practices in responsible investing. The new Calvert Institute will partner with academic organisations, industry groups and investors to create and sponsor third-party research focused on ESG issues. 

The Sustainable Banking Network has released a report on sustainable finance progress in low-income countries, investigating the drivers and innovation that underpin market-level efforts to advance sustainable finance. According to SBN, “continuous and significant progress” is being made by the poorest countries among the network.

MSCI has published research exploring two types of risk: “event” risk, created by specific incidents, and “erosion” risk to companies’ long-term competitiveness. Key environmental issues unfold over time, and are therefore erosion-driven, the research says, while key social issues covered a mix of event-driven and erosion-driven characteristics. MSCI found that governance issues had the highest share of event risks.