Rio Tinto’s eccentric chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques held a standalone "‘climate and water seminar" on Tuesday, less than two weeks after his chairman Simon Thompson fronted the miner’s London annual general meeting on April 8 and called for “essential” and “urgent, co-ordinated government action” on climate change, namely “incentives, such as carbon pricing, for industry to invest in new low-carbon technology”.

How abruptly Rio’s rhetoric has shifted. Would you believe that in Tuesday’s presentation of 45 slides and throughout corresponding remarks, the phrase “carbon pricing” was not exhibited or uttered once? From “urgent” and “essential” to unmentionable. Marvel at executive management’s quiet revolution, abandoning the chairman – and the board’s sustainability committee – out on their own bold policy limb. Hey, this is Jacques’ company; his castrated overseers can take a little humiliation!