De Beers Group Focuses On Sustainability

By Rodney Weidemann

The diamond industry faces numerous challenges, including the need for sustainability and the concomitant focus on renewable energy, as well as the competitive challenge natural diamonds face from laboratory-grown ones.

So it comes as no surprise that the De Beers Group’s recently published sustainability report highlights the significant progress the business has made across its key focus areas – climate, livelihoods, nature and provenance. These areas were identified as the priorities for De Beers Group’s sustainability work.

During the past year, the company made meaningful progress in areas including emissions, safety and conservation. In addition, the business has substantially advanced its work on diamond provenance and traceability, with the blockchain-backed Tracr platform enhancing its effectiveness and scale. Diamond provenance and traceability involve tracking a diamond’s journey from its origin to its final sale to guarantee its authenticity and ethical sourcing.

The company has enhanced its sustainability credentials by its reduction of Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 7% since 2021. De Beers has further focused on developing renewable energy solutions in 2024, working with Envusa Energy to complete the financing of wind and solar plants in South Africa which will meet 100% of its electricity needs in 2026.

Meanwhile, from a livelihoods perspective, the company made a total tax and economic contribution of $2.9bn in 2024, highlighting the socioeconomic value that responsibly sourced natural diamonds deliver.

Sandrine Conseiller, CEO of Brands and Diamond Desirability at De Beers Group, says the company believes a diamond’s journey should be as meaningful as its beauty.

“That’s why sustainability is embedded in everything we do – from developing renewable energy in our partner countries, to advancing gender equity and supporting long-term national development,” she says.

The importance of provenance

Alongside the progress made with the sustainability pillars of climate, livelihoods and nature, Conseiller notes that the company has also delivered transformational progress with its work on provenance, advancing and scaling the Tracr blockchain platform in 2024.

Nearly three million individual diamonds have been registered on the platform since 2022, she points out, with leading producers and suppliers joining the platform, including ODC and Mountain Province, thereby increasing the volume of diamonds on the platform being registered at source.

“Tracr has also begun providing country of origin information for all De Beers Group-sourced rough diamonds over one carat registered on the platform. In addition, Tracr is undertaking both rough-to-rough and rough-to-polished objective verification of diamonds on the platform, enhancing the levels of assurance it provides throughout the value chain.”

Building on the progress delivered with sustainability and provenance, she says De Beers Group continues to develop consumer propositions that enable people to buy natural diamonds – with assurance on their country of origin and impact on the people and places where they are discovered. This includes the launch of a new polished diamond programme called ORIGIN – De Beers Group.

“ORIGIN – De Beers Group enables participating retailers to access polished diamonds that have been sourced by the company and tracked through the value chain by the Tracr blockchain platform.”

Each stone is then accompanied with rich information about each diamond’s unique journey and the meaningful impact it has delivered, she says. “Thanks to our provenance platforms like Tracr, and the consumer-facing experiences we’re building, we can share these stories with confidence.”