April / May 2020 - Lab Grown Magazine

April / May 2020 | LG | The Lab Grown Diamond Resource Book 12 To advertise call (888) 832-1109 | April / May 2020 13 Local chapters of the Diamond Bourse of Southeast United States (DBSE) and the Dia- mond Dealers Club of New York (DDC) are two examples of regionalized pro-mine people power. While groups such as the United States Jew- elry Council (USJC), Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America (MJSA), India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) may not be taking sides, they are also not using their clout to clear up a lot of confusion—confu- sion promulgated by their sister groups. In 2017, the DPA (whose members include seven of the world’s largest and most vocal dia- mond companies) released a report through London-based Trucost ESG Analysis, a com- pany that estimates the hidden costs of the un- sustainable use of natural resources. The DPA/ Trucost paper claims that mined diamonds are much less carbon-intensive than LG diamonds, making them the clear eco-friendly choice. Trucost estimated that the average polished mined diamond emits 160 kg of CO 2 , significantly below its estimate of 511 kg for each polished carat grown in a lab. This is more emotionally effective when seeing the numbers in the graph below. The report states that a 1-carat LG dia- mond has over 500 times the “relative carbon intensity” as a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans. That, of course, only applies when people start discard- ing their LD diamonds in the garbage. Assuming all the products on the left were discarded in a landfill, then DPA’s promotion through Reuters News Agency would be an accurate assessment of a “relative carbon intensity.” (Graph: DPA and Barbara Lewis of Reuters) But explosives and other sources of green- house gas emissions from diamond mine sites vary greatly according to the report. Miners are said to protect up to three times as much land as they use for extraction without any genuine evi- dence of such. These statements are confusing. “I think their [DPA] estimates on greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage are very ques- tionable,” says Saleem Ali, professor of energy and the environment at theUniversity of Delaware and an occasional adviser to diamond makers. “To claim that their carbon and energy footprint is less than synthetic...defies common sense.” Ali isn’t alone in his beliefs. Raymond Fruier, stra- tegic communications director at Earthworks, a U.S. non-profit public research group, says “It’s not surprising reports heavily funded by major diamond miners have determined that mined dia- monds are ‘greener’ and better than lab-grown diamonds.” When challenged, De Beers quickly released news of heavy investments in a new technology, which, the company claims, will soon be able to store carbon in the quarry and mine rocks, to create its first carbon-neutral pit. De Beers ques- tioned all LG producers’ claims of using “renew- able energy” to reduce their carbon footprint, noting that most U.S. cities are not equipped to produce “renewable energy.” On the other side, the U.S.-based LG grower, Diamond Foundry, claims to be the world’s >>