With fewer than 10 weeks to go to the opening of the 2024 CIBJO Congress in Shanghai, China, on November 2, 2024, the second of the pre-congress Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Sustainable Development Commission, headed by John Mulligan, it examines ways in which jewellery companies can meet the growing demand to become compliant with responsible environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.

If the jewellery industry as a whole is to build and sustain consumer trust, it needs to avoid fragmented and potentially contradictory responses, writes Mr. Mulligan. “How then do we strive to encourage and support the global jewellery sector so that it might move in a relatively consistent or broadly convergent manner towards a set of common sustainability objectives?” he asks.

The CIBJO Sustainable Development Commission has been developing solutions, Mr. Mulligan reveals in the report, seeking to define a sectoral “ESG and sustainability” roadmap for jewellery market participants. “It is intended to provide clarity and direction for industry associations and companies across their supply chains. The objective of the resulting guidance document, and the resources it references, is to condense the vast array of ESG topics and sustainability objectives into a structured and prioritised framework, tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of the jewellery sector,” he states.

“Taken as a whole, this guidance, which is likely to be published by CIBJO quite soon as a Blue Book, should offer a clear set of reference points to enable jewellery companies to focus their resources, efficiently and effectively, on the ESG issues of most relevance to their businesses,” he notes.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Sustainable Development Commission’s 2024 Special Report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.