The 2019 CIBJO Congress opened yesterday in Bahrain, with a call for the gemstone and jewellery industry to reduce its environmental impact and thus protect the sector as a whole, as well as the planet. Speaking at the inaugural, CIBJO President Gaetano said that there must be action on climate change, which though not specific to the sector, was the “most important story of our time.” “There is a tendency, when faced by a challenge of this magnitude, to feel that we as individuals are helpless,” Dr. Cavalieri continued. “But if each of us does nothing, the march towards inevitable environmental catastrophe will continue. However, if each of us acts, and then that is multiplied over and over and over, company by company, industry by industry, it may be possible to stave off disaster. It is the least we can do.” The CIBJO Congress opening ceremony took place in the presence of HE Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, the Bahrain Deputy Prime Minister who also serves as Chairman of Mumtalakat, the country’ sovereign wealth fund, under which operates DANAT, Bahrain Institute for Pearls & Gemstones, the host of the congress; HE Jawad Al Arayedh, a Bahrain Deputy Prime Minister; HE Wael Al Mubarak, Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs of Bahrain; and HE Shaikh Fahad bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, Director General, Office of the First Deputy Prime Minister. Lise Kingo, the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, which is represented for the first time at a CIBJO Congress, addressed the gathering in a video message. In terms of global warming, she said, the world is at a pivotal moment.  “The good news is that we have the innovation, the tools and the expertise to turn the situation around, and transform the crisis into an opportunity,” she stated. “What we need now is leadership. That is why we at the UN Global Compact are asking business leaders to step up and commit to setting science-based targets, which are aligned with mitigating the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.” In terms of action, the CIBJO President urged companies active in the jewellery industry to sign into CIBJO’s Jewellery Industry Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative. It is designed to help companies within this sector understand their environmental impact, reduce it, and protect themselves and the sector as a whole, as well as our planet. “As an organisation, CIBJO first measured and offset its carbon emissions in 2013, and committed to continue with this policy, serving as a role model for the industry, with the intention of encouraging members to follow its lead. The 2015 CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, was the first jewellery industry event ever to be fully carbon neutral, and every congress since then, including this one in Bahrain, has and will be carbon neutral,” Dr. Cavalieri said. World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) President Ernie Blom who also addressed the inaugural session, praised the close working relationship between the WFDB and CIBJO and said this allows the diamond and jewellery industry to provide a unified response in the face of global challenges. Blom added that this close cooperation has proven to be invaluable. "In light of the questionable advertising of the lab-grown diamond manufacturers in recent times, I believe that the necessity for us to work together has never been greater so that we can counter these claims and prevent consumer confusion regarding synthetics and diamonds.” He said that in the current situation, WFDB has strongly embraced KYC, or Know Your Customer and also encouraged its members to adopt traceability systems so as to be completely transparent regarding their diamond supply chain. Earlier, in his address, Dr Cavalieri had indicated that one of the special sessions planned during the three-day congress would entail a presentation by CIBJO’s Laboratory Grown Diamond-Working Group on a proposed guidance document, designed to create responsible trading standards for the new product category, which will simultaneously protect consumer confidence both in laboratory-grown and natural diamonds.  “The only ground rules that were provided to the working group was that it members needed be committed to defending the interests of consumers by being absolutely transparent about the identity of the products being sold, and there should be general agreement that neither the natural diamond or laboratory-grown diamond sectors should advance their respective interests by disparaging those of the other,” Dr. Cavalieri remarked. Another session would discuss the creation of an international standard for Fei Cui, which is the Chinese term for a range of jade compositions, of which the best known is jadeite. With a market size that is comfortably in excess of $8 billion per annum, “it is fair to say that, after diamonds, Fei Cui products make up the most valuable sector in our worldwide industry," the CIBJO President stated. The Chinese and Hong Kong industries are interested in advancing international standards for Fei Cui in cooperation with CIBJO, and in a special session at the congress in Bahrain on Tuesday, November 19, a delegation will present its case. Pic caption: CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri (third from right), with the guests of honour during the opening ceremony of the CIBJO Congress 2019, from right: HE Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister; and Chairman of Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund which owns the congress host, DANAT; HE Jawad Al Arayedh, Deputy Prime Minister; HE Wael Al Mubarak, Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs; HE Shaikh Fahad bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, Director General, Office of the First Deputy Prime Minister.