Luxury brands pivot to sustainable jewellery as consumers demand ethical diamonds and gold from big names like Tiffany and Chow Tai Fook

The global demand for ethically sourced, environmentally sound jewellery is steadily growing and big names have developed deep sustainable jewellery policies

Tiffany uses mostly either recycled precious metal or metals mined in the US, while Chow Tai Fook launched a sustainable diamond jewellery brand in 2016

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Big name jewellers like Tiffany are bowing to growing demand for ethically-sourced jewellery and pivoting their policies to sustainable jewellery.

Sian Powell

Published: 4:15am, 13 Sep 2021Updated: 3:16pm, 13 Sep 2021

A diamond ring can signal joy, love, commitment and, maybe these days, environmental awareness.

Global demand for ethically sourced and environmentally sound jewellery is growing steadily, and big names – from the world-famous Tiffany brand to the Asia-based Chow Tai Fook group – have developed deep sustainable jewellery policies.

Still, while the tide of consumer demand seems to be turning, miners around the world continue to wreak havoc on ecosystems and exploit vulnerable communities.

Usually driven by poverty, solo “artisanal” gold miners in places such as Peru in South America, the Philippines and Mali in West Africa continue to use mercury to extract gold from sediment in a toxic and dangerous process. In July, stored waste from Angola’s biggest diamond mine poured into a river, filling waterways with toxic sediment and within weeks killing at least 12 people down-river in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Many in the jewellery industry, including Tiffany, now refuse to buy any diamonds from mines in Zimbabwe or Angola.

Meanwhile, there have been reports over the past year of Zimbabweans captured and tortured for trespassing on the nation’s Marange diamond fields, some of the richest deposits in the world.