Take a company that has some serious decarbonization to undertake and a country that has rich mineral resources for low-carbon solutions such as EVs as well as large renewable energy resources. What do you get?

A good CEO would answer: A big opportunity, and that's precisely what the Rio Tinto CEO did, recently. Excerpts: 

• Rio Tinto's CEO, Jakob Stausholm, acknowledges the company's significant carbon footprint and emphasizes the need to address it. Stausholm sees Canada as an attractive opportunity due to its historical abundance of renewable energy and a high content of green energy in its electricity.

• Jalkob also added that Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian federal government to contribute to Canada's low-carbon battery industry over the next decade, with a focus on lithium for electric-vehicle batteries.

• Rio Tinto is open to buying lithium companies but currently prefers exploration, as Stausholm considers lithium companies to be "extremely" expensive.

• Canada aims to reduce its dependence on China in the critical minerals sector, and Rio Tinto is seen as a key player in this strategy. The company has been working with countries to strengthen its supply chain security. 

• Rio Tinto has already announced a $1.4 billion investment to expand its aluminum smelter in Quebec and the construction of the largest solar-power plant in Canada's northern territories.

• https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/canada-decade-ahead-west-climate-change-rio-tinto