Rio Tinto has been guilty of gilding the climate lily in recent months and years, but the self-proclaimed “fossil-free” miner cannot be wholly blamed for the rhetorical excesses released over Apple’s acquisition of the first batch of “carbon-free aluminium”.

The product in question was delivered to Apple by an aluminium technology joint venture owned by Rio Tinto and Alcoa, who have been joined in funding research into carbon-light metal production by the Cupertino technology gurus and the Canadian government.