Ten short listed for US$1M Rio Tinto Prize for Sustainability

Ten organisations have been short listed for the US$1M Rio Tinto Prize for Sustainability 2008, which is awarded annually by an international Adjudication Panel of distinguished sustainability experts.

Chairman of the Adjudication Panel, Director of Guelph Institute for the Environment, University of Guelph, Canada, and Former Minister for Environment in Canada, David Anderson said the 2008 short listed organisations represented a diversity of work being done locally to contribute towards global sustainable development.

"The Prize received 117 entries from organisations throughout the world, working across a broad range of different and exciting initiatives. Having evaluated the entries, we believe we have ten short listed organisations which highlight the diversity and depth of talent, initiative and skills existing in the not-for-profit sector."

The ten short listed organisations in 2008 are:

Childhealth Advocacy International (CAI)
UK

Institute of Integrated Rural Development
Bangladesh

International Development Enterprises India
India

Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda
Mexico

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
The Netherlands

The Equilibrium Fund
Mexico

Trees, Water & People
USA

US Green Building Council
USA

VillageReach
USA

Water for People
USA

View further information about the short listed organisations.

The global US$1M Rio Tinto Prize for Sustainability is open to all not-for-profit, civil society and non-government organisations working to advance the goals of economic, environmental and social sustainability.

Rio Tinto global head of Health, Safety & Environment Elaine Dorward-King said Rio Tinto's association with the Prize, through its acquisition of Alcan in 2007, provided Rio Tinto with an opportunity to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to sustainable development.

"For some time now, we have focused on integrating sustainable development considerations into our business plans and decision making processes. We believe performance across economic, social and environmental considerations is critical to sustaining not only our long term success, but also the world's long term sustainability."

To facilitate an inclusive, rigorous and transparent management process for the award of the Prize, Rio Tinto partners with the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) which manages the entries and selection process. IBLF engages independent sustainability experts from around the world to ensure the process and decisions are made in an objective and consistent manner. Rio Tinto does not participate in the assessment process.

IBLF chief executive Adam Leach said the Prize demonstrated the ongoing commitment of the corporate sector to sustainable development at a difficult economic time globally.

"The US$1M Rio Tinto Prize for Sustainability has provided an important financial boost to the not-for-profit sector, and demonstrates an active commitment to sustainable development amongst the corporate sector," he added.

Previous winners of the Prize for Sustainability include the Forest Stewardship Council (Germany) http://www.fsc.org/, Aga Khan Planning and Building Services (Pakistan) http://www.akdn.org/, the Barefoot College (India) http://www.barefootcollege.org/ and Utthan Centre for Sustainable Development & Poverty Alleviation (India) http://www.sietalld.org/.

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed public company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa.

About International Business Leaders Forum

The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation which works with business, governments and civil society to enhance the contribution that companies can make to sustainable development. Since 1990, IBLF has worked in over 90 countries. Current areas of work include raising sustainable business standards, improving prospects for enterprise and employment, and enabling companies to contribute to health and human development issues.

IBLF provides strategic counsel to companies to enable them to understand and respond to the development challenges that they face, particularly when operating in transition and emerging economies.

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