Rio Tinto Blockchain Labels Tell Aluminum Sustainability Story

Rio Tinto Group is slapping a new label on its aluminum. This one shows the metal’s score on sustainability.

The company, one of the biggest suppliers of aluminum in the U.S., will issue a blockchain-based QR code to purchasers, and a simple scan will show sustainability factors from carbon footprint and water use to diversity in leadership. It also gives customers complete traceability of the metal.

“People are asking more and more what the environmental, social and governance factors are for the material they buy,” Alf Barrios, Rio Tinto Aluminum’s chief executive officer, said in a telephone interview. The label ...