Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest mining company, has announced it will invest $1 billion on reducing its carbon footprint in the next five years, that it will cut is emissions by 15% by 2030, and that intends to reach zero net emissions by 2050. This comes a week after announcing its first significant solar farm, a 34 MW installation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia which will power the company’s Koodaideri iron mine. The Pilbara region contains huge iron ore deposits, with Rio Tinto alone controlling 16 iron ore mines with 10,500 employees; the region also has some manganese, petroleum, natural gas, and other metals. At peak output times the Koodaideri solar farm will provide all the mine’s…