Kaisa Hietala joins the board of giant mining company Rio Tinto. The post follows on from a year and a half on the board of oil company ExxonMobil.
Rio Tinto is alone among the world’s largest mining companies in having a less than stellar reputation. The company had to change its management after it was revealed that it had blasted an Aboriginal sacred site in Australia out of the way of a mine expansion in 2020. The cave contained signs of human history dating back 46,000 years. The company has also been suspected of corruption and a toxic working environment.
– My own profile is very much in the natural resources sector, and in particular in combining business and sustainability. I believe that the biggest companies in the industries can turn the whole industry around when they decide to do so,” says Hietala.
Candidate for the Activist Fund
So far, the Finnish Kaisa Hietala has already had an exceptional career. In May 2021, she was elected to the board of US oil company ExxonMobil. This is one of the world’s largest oil companies.
Hietala was campaigned for ExxonMobil’s board by a US-based activist fund, which was dissatisfied with how the company had taken climate change into account until then. Or rather, had been ignored.
– The clear guidelines of the EU and the USA regarding the energy transition have not changed – in fact, they have become stronger with the Russian war of aggression: Europe needs self-sufficient energy production and the large support package from the USA will stimulate the industry to invest in the energy transition.
For a long time, ExxonMobil was also one of the companies that actively campaigned to question climate change and denied its connection to the use of fossil fuels. The documentary on the subject can be viewed at Yle arena.
Facing a triple challenge
Now Hietala likes to talk about the triple challenge, which is especially facing industries that use natural resources. First of all, the demand for products and services is increasing, but at the same time the industries are facing even harsher criticism. In addition, the war of aggression started by Russia against Ukraine has awakened Europe to the need for self-reliance.
– Balancing between these three factors is a big challenge, for example, in the energy industry as well as in the mining industry, Hietala describes.
The green transition will accelerate the demand for mining industry products, especially rare earth metals, in the next few years. The EU has defined around 30 elements as critical and their demand will multiply by 2030.
We should dig even more, but at the same time the green transition forces the mining industry to reduce its own carbon and environmental footprint.
There are deposits of rare earth metals, for example, in Kiruna in Sweden and in Eastern Lapland in Finland. However, opposition to mining is high. According to Hietala, there is a big social debate ahead.
– The self-sufficiency goals of the mining industry’s products also create a necessary discussion about the conditions under which industry operators are welcome in our neighborhood. I see that these factors are an opportunity for the renewal of the mining industry – mining industry 2.0.
Involving investors and shareholders
Hietala calls for a fundamental change in business life. Nature can no longer be an endless store of raw materials or a landfill.
The environment must be taken into account when doing business.
– We have no other choice.
Consumers alone are not enough to change the big direction.
– In order for us to succeed in this systemic change, we also need investors and shareholders to see this change as a business opportunity, says Hietala.
Kaisa Hietala is a guest of Ykkösaamu. The live broadcast starts on TV1, Yle radio 1 and Yle Areena at 10:05.