Sustainable development officer

The sustainable development role emphasises the companies' long term commitment to sustainable development (SD) and its importance for our business.  This is a new graduate role in Rio Tinto and work in this role so far has consisted of:

• Application of SD principles to our operations
• Organising SD events such as a key note session with David Suzuki 
• Development of an employee awareness campaign on SD
• Application of SD methodology to order of magnitude and pre-feasibility studies for new projects.  The SD methodology is a framework used to comprehensively consider social, economic and environmental factors in business decisions.
• Development of SD pilot programmes 
• Initiated a Materials Stewardship working group, to meet Rio Tinto and regulatory requirements
• Life cycle assessment of business units
• Work on a regional approach to Biodiversity

Sustainable development by its very nature provides the opportunity to experience many different aspects of the business, including health, safety, expansion projects, environment, marketing, business analysis, business improvement, and procurement to name a few.  The role allows specialisation and an understanding of the bigger picture view and the interaction and importance of all areas of the business.