With fewer than nine weeks to go to the opening of the 2025 CIBJO Congress in Paris, France, on October 27, 2025, the second of the pre-congress Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Sustainable Development Commission, headed by John Mulligan, it considers both challenges and  solutions for devising a unified sustainability agenda for the jewellery industry and its supply chains, which are very diverse in terms of their geography, product categories and the capacities of companies working within them.

“As the global jewellery industry grapples with the complex challenges of responsible sourcing, environmental stewardship, stalled socio-economic development, and inequalities of opportunity, the need for a broadly agreed, collaborative approach to sustainability has never been more urgent,” writes Mr. Mulligan.

“Fragmentation across geographies, supply chains, and business models has long hindered progress. The recent politicisation of aspects of the sustainability agenda, the prevalence of short-term tactical thinking and associated retrograde policy decisions also challenge the ability of industry leaders to define and implement clear strategic action plans that might place businesses on a convergent path to deliver positive outcomes,” he continues.

CIBJO is emerging as a key force in driving industry-wide sustainability efforts, Mr. Mulligan reports, and in the coming months will be making available free of charge via its website new and updated resources designed to equip companies with the information necessary to move forward in assessing and, in time, acting on their key sustainability goals and impacts. These include:

• An updated Responsible Sourcing Blue Book, with revised a Responsible Sourcing Toolkit, aligned with OECD Due Diligence Guidance.
• A new Sustainability & ESG Reference Guide, covering all key aspects of the global sustainability agenda as it applies to the jewellery sector.
• The “ESG Wheel,” supplemented with new materiality assessment guidance to integrate ESG/SDG-aligned goals into jewellery business strategy, tailored small and medium-sized businesses as well.

The CIBJO Sustainable Development Commission President also reports on a  recently created “Sustainability Practice Group,” whose members include sustainability experts and advisors from CIBJO’s membership, which is helping define and review the tools being developed for the industry, to ensure they remain current and fit for purpose.

“Within jewellery supply chains, industry and commodity (precious materials) associations need to further embrace these changes and deepen their capacity to support their members in becoming more active, transparent and able to measure their impacts,” writes Mr. Mulligan.