Rio Tinto Kennecott - Sustainability Storytelling

When Rio Tinto acquired the Kennecott mine in 1989, it inherited the site’s legacy practices and reputation. Over time, the organization made operational changes to remediate environmental damage, reduce impact, and invest in community benefits. Our clients wanted to tell those stories to the Salt Lake community in a straightforward, accessible way—without jargon, spin, or technical fog.

Kennecott has done the work to become a better neighbor.

It has made measurable progress on a long-term decarbonization plan.

It has taken steps to improve air safety and operational stewardship.

It has conserved water and restored habitats through land donation and conservation initiatives.


It has pushed efficiency—making the most of every possible resource.

And it is helping prepare the next generation to solve even bigger challenges.

Summary + Story System

Seeing Kennecott’s scale was surreal: trucks the size of suburban homes, filtration systems fine-tuned to tap-water purity, and teams turning mountain runoff into copper anodes. Our job was to translate that operational reality into stories the community could absorb quickly and trust. We paired simplified science with accessible design to build a narrative system that made progress legible—connecting technical work to local outcomes, and turning “sustainability” from an abstract claim into a set of concrete, understandable actions.