October 11, 2017

With fewer than four weeks to go to the opening of the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 5, 2017, the sixth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by Hanco Zwaan, President of the organisation’s Gemmology Commission, the report looks at a series of issues on the agenda of the gemmological community, including guidelines for colour terms like “royal blue” and “pigeon blood red,” and the way in which possible undetermined treatments can be explained on laboratory reports.

Concerns have been raised about laboratory reports that fail to include comments when gemstone treatments are “undeterminable,” which can be the case with heat treated aquamarines and irradiated tourmalines. “A person reading the report may consider that the lack of information provided implies that the stone is not treated, rather than communicating that there may have   been a treatment that is undeterminable,” Dr. Zwaan writes.

To address the issue, in the newest draft of CIBJO’s Gemstone Blue Book it is proposed that laboratories note on reports that an absence or lack of comments in the treatment section of a laboratory report does not necessarily mean that the stone has not been subject to a treatment, for there are treatments that currently cannot be definitively proven to exist. The statement could be followed by a list of undetectable treatments.

The Special Report also describes progress that was made under CIBJO’s auspices toward harmonising the standards by which laboratories will assign descriptive colour terms like “royal blue” and “pigeon blood red.” There is agreement that only very well saturated colours, within strict limits of hue and tone, are eligible to receive the specific colour terms, but disagreement still remains as to the disagree of fluorescence necessary for the terms to be awarded, and even whether or not fluorescence should be taken into account at all.

“Additional steps that need to be taken on this issue will be discussed at the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, and hopefully progress will be made,” Dr. Zwaan writes.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Gemmology Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

October 9, 2017

For the fourth consecutive year, CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has been certified as carbon neutral, after offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions for 2016. It did so as part of its own Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative, which it launched in 2014 to promote environmental consciousness and responsibility in the greater jewellery industry.

To become carbon neutral, CIBJO’s carbon footprint first was measured by Carbon Expert, an environmental consulting organisation that works with the jewellery confederation in the Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative. It encompassed all greenhouse gases emitted by CIBJO as a result of regular operations during the course of the year, including the annual congress in Armenia last October. This was offset through the purchase and retirement of 167 Registry Voluntary Carbon Units (VCUs), which were invested in a mini-hydroelectric power plant in Karanataka, India, which is a recognised carbon offsetting project.

Greenhouse gases, which radiate and trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere, are considered a primary case of climate change by the overwhelming majority of experts in the scientific community. They include carbon dioxide, whose entry into the atmosphere is accelerated through the use of  fossil fuels; methane, which is emitted during the production of coal, natural gas, and oil, as well as through emissions from livestock and other agricultural practices, and through the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills; nitrous oxide, which is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste; and fluorinated gases, which are sometimes used as substitutes for stratospheric ozone-depleting substances.

The CIBJO Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative was established by the jewellery confederation’s Marketing & Education Commission to help companies within the jewellery and gemstone industries understand their environmental impact, reduce it, and protect themselves and the industry as a whole. Companies that become part of the programme are invited to work with Carbon Expert, which assists them in complying with ISO Standard 14064, specifying how to quantify and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals, and apply ISO Standard 20121, which offers guidance and best practice for controlling the environmental impact of events.

“We are extremely proud to have been certified as carbon neutral once again, and hope that this will serve as a model for others in the industry,” said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri. “Global warming leading to climate change is a phenomenon that threatens every single living being, and it only can be challenged if we work both individually and in unison. Proper environmental stewardship is an integral component of corporate responsibility, and it should come to be considered a hallmark of how we go about our business in the jewellery and gemstone sector.”

October 4, 2017

With fewer than five weeks to go to the opening of the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 5, 2017, the fifth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by Cecilia Gardner, President of the organisation’s Ethics Commission, the report focuses on social investment in and by the jewellery industry, looking at how it is proliferating through activism at the grassroots level.

“The task of initiating proactive sustainability programmes is a complicated one for the gem and jewellery business, where the overwhelming majority of players work in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with limited resources,” Ms. Gardner writes. “The handful of major corporations involved in the business, most often mining companies, have been active in this respect, and some for many decades…. For SMEs, however, it is considerably more difficult to become involved, let alone initiate programmes that may have a lasting effect on the lives of people and communities, particularly when they are located elsewhere geographically, and at other stages along the chain of distribution.”

A feature of the past several years, Ms. Gardner notes, are voluntary and grassroots initiatives by interested individuals, companies and organisations in the jewellery sector. One of these is the Jewelry Industry Summit, where CIBJO is involved, and which is acting as an incubator for sustainability and CSR projects in a variety of industry-related fields, most related to responsible sourcing.

Among the projects associated with the Jewelry Industry Summit is a golden rutilated quartz mine in Bahia, Brazil, which is being designed to serve the long-term social and economic needs of an adjacent village with a population of about 500 people; the Jewellery Development Index (JDI), which is now being examined by a team at the U.S. State Department, and will benchmark national jewellery and gemstone industries in terms of how they help or hinder economic and social development; an initiative in India to combat the blight of silicosis; and a programme promoting mercury-free artisanal gold mining.

“There are many opportunities for you to act now to improve and sustain our supply chain and benefit those who are your business partners.  Those who work in every level of the supply chain make possible your success – without them, you cannot operate. Their health and success are essential to the health and success of the jewellery industry, and any actions taken to improve their lives will reverberate up and down our chain of supply,” Ms. Gardner writes.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Ethics Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.