Inking the agreement at the invitation of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) at the China International Steel and Raw Materials Conference in Qingdao on Wednesday, the joint action plan will examine ways each party can best utilise its research capabilities, technologies, processes, equipment, logistics, industry coordination and policy advisory capacities to fight against climate change and improve environmental performance.

"China Baowu is committed to ecological and sustainable development," China Baowu Chairman Chen Derong said in a joint statement released by Rio Tinto.

"We want to make a difference to the iron and steel ecosystem by developing greener factories and enterprises to deliver a cleaner, more sustainable steel industry."

"China Baowu looks forward to exploring low-carbon metallurgical innovation with Rio Tinto and Tsinghua University, and we hope to jointly address climate challenges with our partners, and create a model of harmonious coexistence between cities and steel mills."

Able to reduce their carbon footprint by over 30 percent since 2008, Aussie iron ore producer Rio Tinto has made it a priority under the 2015 Paris Agreement to support substantial long-term decarbonisation by 2050.

"This pioneering partnership across the steel value chain will bring together solutions to help address the steel industry's carbon footprint and improve its environmental performance," Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said.

"The materials we produce have an important role to play in the transition to a low carbon future and we are committed to partnering with our customers and others to find the most sustainable ways to produce, process and market them."

"We are already doing this in aluminium and now, through this partnership, we will be doing it in the steel industry."

Excited by the prospect of working closely with the two key steel industry players, Tsinghua University Vice President You Zheng said, "Tsinghua University is committed to providing solutions to climate change challenges and contributing wisdom to sustainable development."

"The signing will enable us to work closely with the upstream and downstream of the steel industry value chain to jointly find a solution to the industry's low-carbon transformation." (Xinhua)

• [Editor:kangmingfei]