The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Diamond mining giant De Beers on Monday outlined plans to ethically source its diamonds and be carbon neutral by 2030 due to growing investor pressure on companies to be environmentally and socially responsible.
The initiative is the latest example of a miner setting sustainability goals in an industry blamed for depletion of natural resources, smuggling and child labor in supply lines.
De Beers, a unit of Anglo American, said it would provide the origin and impact of every diamond it discovers and sells, while also extending a set of ethical, social and environmental standards beyond its value chain and across diamond mining as well as other sectors.
De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond producer by the value of its gems, has led industry efforts to verify the authenticity of diamonds and ensure they are not from conflict zones where gems may be used to finance violence.
The company has tracked high-value diamonds from miner to retailer using blockchain to clear the supply chain of imposters and conflict minerals.
The diamond producer, which in the past has been accused of failing to report toxic levels of mercury at one of its mines in Canada, said on Monday it would look to halve its water footprint and achieve a net positive impact on biodiversity by 2030.
De Beers, through its CarbonVault initiative, has been trying to capture carbon from the atmosphere and lock it away in kimberlite, the rock in which diamonds are found.
The ethical practices are among the company’s 12 sustainability goals being adopted for the coming decade, which also includes achieving gender parity across its workforce.
Advocacy group Human Rights Watch had warned this month that major jewellery brands are still not doing enough to combat human rights and environmental abuses in their gold and diamond supply chains.
By Arundhati Sarkar and Arathy S Nair. Editor: Amy Caren Daniel.
France is pressing ahead with a ‘game-changing’ bill that would impose a ‘sin tax’-style penalty on fast-fashion products as high as €10 per item by 2030.
In the weeks since one of the industry’s most promising recycling start-ups filed for bankruptcy, big brands have put more money and more commitment into bringing innovations to market.
Thirty years of providing the world’s finest wool to the fashion house Loro Piana has done almost nothing for the Indigenous people of the Peruvian Andes.
The fast-fashion giant has joined Vargas and TPG to back a new polyester recycling venture following its failed bet on Renewcell.