This week, jewelry giant Pandora launched Pandora
Brilliance — its
first lab-created diamond collection and its first carbon-neutral collection.
Aiming to make the market for diamond jewellery more widely accessible with
affordable, sustainably created products, Pandora Brilliance is now available in
the UK, with global launch in other key markets expected in 2022.
“Pandora continues its quest to make incredible jewellery available for more
people, and I’m proud to announce the introduction of Pandora Brilliance,” said
CEO Alexander Lacik. “It’s a new collection of beautifully designed
jewellery featuring lab-created diamonds. They are as much a symbol of
innovation and progress as they are of enduring beauty, and stand as a testament
to our ongoing and ambitious sustainability agenda. Diamonds are not only
forever, but for everyone.”
Pandora Brilliance has achieved CarbonNeutral® product
certification in
accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol — a leading global framework for
carbon neutrality. The certification covers Pandora Brilliance jewellery, its
packaging and transportation.
Consumer demand for lab-created diamonds
Apart from their sourcing, lab-created diamonds are identical to mined diamonds.
They have the same optical, chemical, thermal and physical characteristics and
are graded by the same standards known as the 4Cs — cut, colour, clarity and
carat — and buyers can be assured that the gems are conflict-free. The diamond jewellery market is expected to continue to grow, and
lab-created diamonds are reportedly outpacing the industry's overall growth.
The jury is still
out
as to whether lab-grown diamonds are better for the environment than mined —
a 2019 Trucost
report
produced on behalf of the Diamond Producers Association found that
greenhouse gas emissions are roughly three times greater for lab-grown diamonds
than their mined counterparts. Many diamonds are grown in labs in countries such
as China, Singapore and the US, which lean heavily upon fossil fuels
for energy. But Pandora — the world’s largest jewelry brand — says the diamonds
for the Pandora Brilliance collection are grown with more than 60 percent
renewable energy on average, and greenhouse gas emissions from non-renewable
energy are being offset through the CarbonNeutral certification. When Pandora
launches the collection globally next year, the diamonds are expected to be made
using 100 percent renewable energy.
Pandora says that going forward, mined diamonds will no longer be used in its
products.
The shift to lab-grown diamonds is the latest step in Pandora’s efforts to
become more sustainable. In June, the company reported that 71 percent of the
silver and gold in its jewelry came from recycled sources, and announced a
target of 100 percent circular gold and silver by 2025. The company says this
shift will cut carbon emissions by two-thirds for silver — the most-used
material in Pandora jewelry — and by more than 99 percent for gold. The carbon
emissions from sourcing recycled silver are one-third compared to mined silver;
while recycling of gold emits approximately 600 times less carbon than mining
new gold, according to life cycle assessments.
Pandora’s efforts join that of an industry that’s slowly mobilizing to
prioritize sustainable sourcing — in 2019, Tiffany & Co committed to 100
percent
traceability for
each of its newly sourced diamonds; and, along with Apple, partnered to
launch Salmon Gold™ — an innovative
approach to sourcing gold responsibly while restoring fish habitats. And
actress Nikki Reed’s jewelry company, BaYou with Love, made headlines
in
2018 when
it unveiled its “Circular Collection” of pieces made of recycled gold from the
motherboards of end-of-life Dell computers.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published May 7, 2021 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST