'The future of luxury': Pandora embraces lab-made diamonds
“The future of luxury is here today. Lab-created diamonds are just as beautiful as mined diamonds, but available to more people and with lower carbon emissions. We are proud to broaden the diamond market and offer innovative jewellery that sets a new standard for how the industry can reduce its impact on the planet,” said Pandora CEO Alexander Lacik.
The global diamond jewellery market is estimated at $84bn. The market is expected to continue to grow, and lab-created diamonds are outpacing the industry's overall growth, Pandora noted in a statement. The US is the world’s largest diamond jewellery market.
Lower carbon footprint
Lab-created diamonds are identical to mined diamonds, but grown in a laboratory rather than excavated from a mine. They have the same optical, chemical, thermal and physical characteristics and are graded by the same standards known as the 4Cs – cut, colour, clarity and carat. Pandora’s lab-created diamonds are grown, cut and polished using 100% renewable energy and have a carbon footprint of only 8.17 kg CO2e per carat – five percent of that of a mined diamond.
"These lab-created diamonds are grown in the US and point to a future of low-carbon diamonds for jewellery and industrial use. For perspective, if all diamonds were mined with the same low carbon footprint as Pandora’s lab-created diamonds, it would save more than 6 million tons of CO2e annually – this is similar to replacing all cars in New York City with electric vehicles," Pandora said.
To further reduce climate impact of the jewellery, it is the first Pandora collection crafted with 100% recycled silver and gold. This brings greenhouse gas emissions of the collection’s entry product – a silver ring with a 0.15 carat lab-created diamond ($300) – down to 2.7 kg CO2e, which is equal to the average emissions of a t-shirt. The flagship product – a one-carat lab-created diamond set in a 14k solid gold ring ($1.950) – has a footprint of 10.4kg CO2e, which is less than the average emissions of a pair of jeans.
The new collection is a significant breakthrough for Pandora, as the company has committed to craft all its jewellery from recycled silver and gold by 2025.
The 33-piece collection is named Pandora Brilliance and includes rings, bangles, necklaces and earrings, each featuring a solitary, VS+ clarity lab-created diamond handset within sterling silver, solid 14K yellow gold or solid 14K white gold. The collection will be available to purchase from 25 August across 269 Pandora stores in the US and Canada and at pandora.net.
Brilliance is the first collection under the new Diamonds by Pandora category. The introduction in North America follows a successful UK pilot launch of lab-created diamonds in 2021. At the time, Pandora also announced that it would stop using mined diamonds.
