Rio has a declining footprint in Queensland since it sold its coal assets, but it has also done a review of its association membership and found that its voice within the QRC was not strong enough to change to the policies of the gas and coal dominated group.

It will maintain membership of the Minerals Council where it does have a board seat and is more able to influence policy.

BHP suspended its membership of the QRC after the organisation launched a political campaign against the Greens at the last state election, an issue it said was against its policy of targeting individual parties. Origin also left over the attack on the Greens but has since returned.

Since then, there has been a noticeable shift in QRC’s public face with little political comment although it has never resiled from the comments made in the campaign.

Rio Australia chief executive Kellie Parker said the company had valued Ian Macfarlane’s leadership of the QRC and the support provided to the company’s Weipa bauxite operation.

“We also appreciate the QRC’s advocacy for our industry so we could continue to operate during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic.

“After careful consideration, Rio Tinto will not renew its membership with the Queensland Resources Council for the 2022-2023 financial year.”

No comment was made by the company today about what issues were foremost in the decision but it has previously said it was “partially misaligned” with the QRC’s advocacy for coal.

Just last week Rio Tinto said climate change was central to its new strategy after it faced demands from shareholders to set clear targets to cut indirect emissions.

Rio chief executive Jakob Stausholm said the company had committed to increasing research spending to develop technologies enabling its customers to decarbonise, and highlighted its investments in renewable power.

“Climate change… is the defining issue for our age, and is at the heart of our new strategy,” chairman Simon Thompson said at the meeting.

The company in October announced a $US7.5 billion plan to reduce emissions by 2030, seeking to halve its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions – direct emissions by the company and certain types of indirect emissions – by the end of the decade.

QRC has also said it supported the Paris Agreement and its emissions reductions goals to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.