De Beers announced 12 ambitious sustainability goals for the coming decade, including achieving gender parity throughout its workforce, supporting 10,000 women entrepreneurs in its diamond producing partner countries and being carbon neutral within its own operations by 2030.
The 12 goals are part of De Beers’ Building Forever framework – a sustainability approach embedded in the business’s commercial strategy and focused on maximising the positive impact of diamonds on their journey from discovery to retail. The goals were developed to galvanise De Beers’ employees, partners and consumers around the world – from its four producer countries to the more than 30 countries where its brands De Beers Jewellers and Forevermark are found – to achieve a shared vision for a better future.
The goals are based around four pillars: leading ethical practices across industry; partnering for thriving communities; protecting the natural world; and accelerating equal opportunity.
By 2030 De Beers will extend its Best Practice Principles (a set of leading ethical, social and environmental standards) beyond its value chain to advance industry standards; provide the origin and impact of every diamond it discovers and sells; and deliver scalable solutions to improve the livelihoods of artisanal miners.
Over the same span, the company aims to achieve priority UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) health targets in all its partner communities; establish skills partnerships in all its partner communities; and have supported four jobs across its partner countries for every one job at its operations.
Its efforts towards protecting the Natural World will consist of being carbon neutral across its operations; reducing its water footprint by 50%; and achieving a net positive impact on biodiversity.
By 2030 De Beers will achieve equal opportunity, including gender parity, for employees across its workforce; support 10,000 women entrepreneurs and engage 10,000 girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects; and increase the diversity of creative talent in the diamond jewellery sector.
Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: “As the world’s leading diamond company, and in recognition of the United Nations’ call for a ‘Decade of Action’ to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, we have both a unique opportunity and a profound responsibility to create lasting benefits for the people and places where diamonds are discovered. This is why our Building Forever sustainability framework is central to our business strategy, and why we have set ourselves these 12 ambitious goals. We are committed to supporting a lasting positive impact that will endure well beyond the discovery of our last diamond, and it is only by pushing ourselves to do more that we can maximise long-term benefits.
“People have always been able to give and wear our diamonds with pride, and by announcing our 12 Building Forever goals and sharing our progress along the journey, they can have a deeper connection to the active role their De Beers Jewellers or Forevermark diamond has played in protecting the natural world and improving people’s lives.”
Caption: Collection of rough diamonds from De Beers Group.
Image Credit: Ben Perry @Armory Films / Courtesy De Beers