The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) has released a guidance document outlining environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles for companies primarily involved in the laboratory-grown diamond sector.

Entitled “Environmental, Social and Governance Principles for Laboratory-Grown Diamonds,” the new guidance document is designed to assist laboratory-grown diamond companies to devise sustainable strategies that contribute to long-term business value creation, and to satisfy consumer expectations around  environmental and social responsibility. It also aims to support companies facing the likelihood of greater ESG regulatory requirements imposed by governments, both national and regional, in the not-too-distant future. While relevant to businesses of every size, the document was formulated with the specific needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in mind.

“To operate in an environment in which a structured ESG strategy is becoming a prerequisite, these principles are looking to aid companies on starting this sometimes daunting journey by giving tangible next steps,” explained Wesley Hunt, Chair of CIBJO’s Laboratory-Grown Diamond Committee, which initiated the project. “It was with this in mind, and also with an understanding that the laboratory-grown diamond sector has specific needs that we decided to create the guidelines.”

The guideline was developed in partnership with independent advisers, Key & Co., and presented for the first time by its authors, Jon Key and Helen Mitchell, at the 2023 CIBJO Congress in Jaipur, India, in November last year. It is now available for downloading at no charge on the CIBJO website. To download the document, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

ESG refers to a set of performance evaluation criteria that an organization uses to measure and monitor the robustness of its governance mechanisms and its ability to effectively manage environmental and social impacts. It has largely superseded previous Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approaches, providing broader, more precisely articulated and measurable sets of actions that affect employees, their families, customers, investors, shareholders, local communities and society at large, to improve long-term human-life quality, the environment and the economy.

The guidance document presents 14 specific principles, five of which relate to environmental policy, four to socially responsible policies, and five to governance. Each principle includes a set of recommended actions, and an indication of its relevance to specific United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The new document is the second set of guidelines created by the Laboratory-Grown Diamond Committee, and is intended to be used in conjunction with it. The first set, which was released in June 2021, is the “Laboratory-Grown Diamond Guidance.” It includes a set of operating standards and principles for the laboratory-grown diamond sector that are designed to enhance consumer confidence to ensure that each laboratory-grown diamond is bought or sold transparently, while preventing unfair or deceptive trade practices. To download the 2024 edition of the Laboratory-Grown Diamond Guidance PLEASE CLICK HERE.