The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price is lifting on Thursday. Meanwhile, the company has taken a major step towards powering its Queensland assets with renewable energy.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) resources giant and Queensland's largest energy user has put the call out for entities to build large-scale wind and solar projects in the state.
At the time of writing, the Rio Tinto share price is $119.63, 0.6% higher than its previous close.
For context, the ASX 200 is also down, having slipped 0.87% this morning. The company's home sector – the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) – is also 0.13% lower right now.
Let's take a closer look at the latest news from the metals and mining monolith.
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Rio Tinto's 'important step' towards climate targets
The Rio Tinto share price is in the green amid news that the company's moving to power its Gladstone assets with renewable energy.
Doing so should help it meet its climate change ambitions and encourage renewable development and industry in the region.
The company has opened a formal market request for proposals to find an entity to develop multiple renewable projects.
The projects – in parallel with firming solutions – will help supply power to Rio Tinto's assets in the Gladstone region through the Queensland grid by 2030.
Those assets include the Boyne smelter, the Yarwun alumina refinery, and the Queensland Alumina refinery.
They need 1140 megawatts of reliable power to run, equating to at least 4000 megawatts of quality wind or solar power with firming.
Rio Tinto Aluminium CEO Ivan Vella commented on today's news, saying:
[W]e have an important role to play in driving the development of competitive renewable energy sources for our Gladstone assets and supporting the state's renewable energy targets.
It is early in the process, but this is an important step towards meeting both our group climate change target of halving our emissions by the end of the decade and our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.
Rio Tinto share price snapshot
The Rio Tinto share price has been performing well in 2022 so far.
It has gained 19% since the start of the year. Though, it's 5% lower than it was this time last year.
