Mining Executive
and New RFF
Board Member
Calls for Action on
Global Warming
P
reston Chiaro comes to the
RFF Board of Directors with a
belief that the energy sector as
a whole has yet to take the first step in
addressing climate change: “simply to
acknowledge the scope, scale, and seriousness of the problem and the need
to take action now, even in the face of
some remaining uncertainties.”
As chief executive of the Energy Division of Rio Tinto, Chiaro has responsibility for the company’s coal and uranium mining operations in Australia,
Namibia, and the United States. Rio
Tinto is a major supplier of uranium to
the nuclear power industry, a lowcarbon energy source that is attracting
renewed interest as an option for meeting worldwide energy demands. Chiaro
is also the senior executive in charge of
combustion capture, and monitoring
Rio Tinto’s climate change program.
systems for carbon dioxide storage
Energy companies, he says, need to
reservoirs will also be important as
engage in the policy debate to ensure
part of the effort to reduce emissions
that the decisions made by governfrom coal-fired generators, Chiaro
ments on behalf of their citizens
says.
are well informed and maximize enviAn environmental engineer by
ronmental, social, and economic
training—he received his B.S. and
outcomes. Companies must reduce
M.E. degrees at Renssetheir “climate footprint,”
laer Polytechnic InstiChiaro says, by conserving
tute, New York—Chiaro
energy in their production
has a particular interest
processes. He also wants
in sustainable developto see companies engage
ment. He oversaw
with their customers
cleanup projects at the
to help them address the
Bingham Canyon Mine,
issue at home.
the world’s largest openChiaro believes that
pit copper mine, and has
the critical new technolset up a sustainable deogy for fossil fuels, includvelopment leadership
ing coal, will be carbon
Preston Chiaro
panel at Rio Tinto “to
capture and storage. The
make sure that sustainable developcomponents of such systems have
ment becomes embedded in the orlong been available, but the technolganization’s DNA.”
ogy “package” needed to collect,
His background and thinking,
transport, and sequester carbon dioxChiaro says, “are very much aligned
ide in safe geologic repositories is just
with what RFF is trying to accomcoming on line. Rio Tinto is supportplish—to make a positive contribution
ing FutureGen, a U.S. Department of
toward responsible, pragmatic, longEnergy initiative to build the world’s
term policy thinking around resource
first near zero-emissions coal-fired
development.” He says he has long repower plant, which incorporates the
spected RFF “for the depth, clarity,
technology on a commercial scale. Aland independence” of its research. ∫
ternative combustion processes, post-
RFF sponsors a summer internship program
in which students from around the world work
with the research staff. Pictured here are some
of this year’s interns, from left:
Top row—Daniel Shawan, Laura Blessing,
Daniel Stone, RFF President Phil Sharp, Yi
Jiang, Griffin LeNoir, and Christina Dietrich.
Middle row—Andrew Fleeter, Prabirendra Chatterjee, Tingting Yan (Spofford intern), and John
Lekuton.
Bottom row—Francie Streich, Laura ChappellCampbell, Ada Chen, Roshni Rathi, and Scott
Salyer. Not pictured: David Bael, Yu-Ming
Chang, Joseph Edemeroh, Radha Jujjavarapu,
Leah Menzies, and Nicholas Powers.
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