Rio Tinto is breaking ranks to back environmental reforms that its rivals oppose.

The Federal Government is seeking significant reforms to its Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999, dubbed the ‘Nature Positive Reforms’.

In a recent statement, Rio Tinto expressed its commitment to “decarbonising its operations and contributing to nature positive outcomes globally”. 

The company says it views the reforms as a means to achieve better environmental outcomes while also creating a “more efficient and effective” approval process.

Rio Tinto is advocating for “Strong National Environmental Standards (NES) that establish shared goals for nature, provide clear assessment criteria and underpin accreditation of related regulatory processes”. 

The company stated that the NES should promote a “nature positive trajectory for Australia”, focusing on landscape-scale management and restoration. 

It also called for “strengthened and independent compliance and enforcement powers, with appropriate governance and guardrails for their use”.

The miner said that reforms should uphold ecologically sustainable development principles, considering both economic and social impacts. 

It also stressed the need for “reduced complexity and duplication” in the approval process, aiming to “facilitate investment certainty and efficiency for decision makers and proponents”. 

Additionally, Rio Tinto highlighted the importance of climate policy aligned with the Paris Agreement and Australia’s net zero ambitions, advocating for permitting processes that support both decarbonisation projects and local jobs.

The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) has also called for reforms to the approvals system, describing it as critical for economic growth. 

“Nature positive measures to streamline Australia’s national environmental laws should not be allowed to bog down,” Ai Group chief Innes Willox said. 

He criticised the current system for duplicating state approvals and not weighing the full benefits of projects. 

“Australia desperately needs to make it easier to build the infrastructure, energy projects, industrial sites and mines that will enable a prosperous and clean economy,” he said.

Willox supports the recommendation of the Samuel Review - an independent evaluation of the EPBC Act from 2019 - for the Commonwealth to delegate approvals to states under unified standards. 

However, he argued that a new “climate trigger” is unnecessary given existing mechanisms like the Safeguard Mechanism. 

“Any environmental regulator needs to obey the clear mandate in our current laws to consider economic and social values as well as environmental ones,” he said.

Rio Tinto's support could help the Albanese government attempt to navigate a Senate deadlock over the reforms. 

The proposed legislation faces competing demands, with the Greens seeking a “climate trigger” to ensure emissions impacts are reviewed, while some industry groups resist a strong national regulator. 

The government plans to reintroduce the legislation when Parliament resumes next month.

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