What's mentioned here is involved and will add to the cost of production, but if they want to advertise their products as ecologically sound they'll have no choice but to raise their prices to cover their certification, which helps even out the platform for naturals. The mining sector is also doing things to make their footprint more earth-friendly, so this is good for all.
Can Lab-Grown Diamonds Ever Really Be Sustainable?
June 7, 2019 by Rob Bates
"In recent weeks, we have seen several lab-created diamond producers move away from calling themselves “eco-friendly.” That’s largely due to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) warning to lab-grown diamond producers that they should stop using “general benefit environmental claims” like eco-friendly and sustainable, and in part due to a growing cry that companies need to actually prove their eco-friendliness, beyond saying bad things about diamond mines.
At a forum at JCK Las Vegas, two lab-grown diamond sellers—Leon Peres of Green Rocks and Dror Yehuda of Yehuda Diamond Co.—both disavowed that positioning. “I don’t personally think [lab-grown diamonds] are any greener than mined diamonds, and I think it’s a mistake to present them that way,” said Yehuda. “I think it’s BS.” The head of WD Lab Grown similarly declined to wade into the debate in an interview last month. (Others, like Diamond Foundry, still describe their stones as sustainable, despite the FTC warning.)
Given the abiding interest in the topic among consumers, the newly formed Lab-Grown Diamond Council has enlisted SCS Global Services—a certification company that has done work for the Responsible Jewelry Council and Brilliant Earth—to draft and eventually audit a standard that will allow certain diamond growers to call certain products “sustainably grown diamonds.”
This won’t happen overnight, says SCS vice president of corporate sales and marketing Stanley Mathuram—and, in fact, SCS hasn’t finalized its standard yet. That could take several months, he says, but he knows the standard will have three pillars: environment impact, social responsibility, and community benefit.
For the environmental standard, all companies would have to move toward carbon neutrality.
“Companies would be required to benchmark their climate impacts and develop a clear road map to reduction of climate impacts and on the road to meet climate neutrality,” says Mathuram. “The road map will be independently audited and verified.”
Given the large amount of energy utilized to grow diamonds—the diamond-producing machines have to equal the heat and pressure of a volcanic eruption—most companies will have to use at least some carbon offsets.
One diamond grower—Diamond Foundry—has already been certified as carbon neutral by Natural Capital Partners, using solar credits as an offset. But to date there has been little transparency about that certification. Mathuram pledges to post all information publicly about how growers fulfill its standard, including how much energy is used, what is matched by offsets, and what offset projects are being funded.
UPDATE: The projects Diamond Foundry is supporting can be seen here and here.
(While it’s beyond the scope of this article, there is a growing controversy about ... "
https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-art ... -334329457
