One of the largest jewelry suppliers in the world, Pandora has announced that it will sell mined diamonds as soon as it launches its first established lab-made diamond. Alexander Lacik, chief executive of Pandora, told the BBC that the shift was part of the company’s broader sustainability drive.
The company said in a statement, the introduction of sustainable acquired diamonds “marks a new milestone for Pandora because it will no longer use mined diamonds.” “Going forward, mined diamonds will no longer be used in Pandora’s products.” Lab-made diamonds are cheaper than conventional diamonds but are similar to those mined from the ground in terms of optical, chemical, thermal and physical properties.
These are graded by the same standard: cut, color, precision and carat. Mined diamonds, on the other hand, come with environmental and ethical considerations, as they are limited resources that can take billions of years to form and are often found in countries without infrastructure to ensure conflict-free production. A 2020/2021 Bain report found that “sustainability, transparency and social welfare are priorities for consumers, investors and value chain” once a growing issue but is now firmly part of the decision-making process in industry, retail and consumers.
The report found that these lab-made diamonds come in at a lower price without worrying about the amount of diamonds that have been reduced. A 2020 report by Human Rights Watch shows that there is still a long way to go to ensure that mined diamonds are encouraged responsibly. “Large jewelry companies are improving their gold and diamond jewelry, but most customers cannot confirm that their jewelry is unrecognized due to human rights violations,” the report said.
Pandora says its new lab-made diamond range has also received carbon-neutral certification as a step towards low-carbon emissions, including packaging and transportation.
The diamonds in the collection were produced using an average of 100 percent renewable energy, and the company hopes to increase that number to 100 percent renewable energy by the time they hit the world market in 2022. “We want to become a low-carbon business. I have four children, I’m leaving this world one day, I hope I can keep it in better shape than we’ve made in the last 50 years or so,” Lacik said.
