The Diamond Producers Association (DPA) has released a report titled “The Socioeconomic and Environmental Impact of Large-Scale Diamond Mining”, its first independent research report on its miner members’ impact on local communities, employees and the environment. According to Gem Konnect, one of the main points of the report is that “despite claims to the contrary, naturally mined diamonds have a per-carat carbon footprint that is just one-third that of a similar lab-grown diamond”.
According to Gem Konnect, some of the key finding of the report, which was authored by the consultancy Trucost, are: DPA members employ 77,000 people in their operations worldwide (comparable to Coca-Cola Company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Alphabet, Nordstrom and Nike); the average DPA Member employee or contractor is paid 66% more than the national average salary and receives nearly five times the living wage in his/her country; DPA members infused $6.8 billion in benefits into local communities through the purchase of local goods and services; and finally, the largest source of DPA members’ environmental footprint is its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with 160 kg of CO2e per polished carat. The estimated CO2e associated with energy use in laboratory-created diamond production is nearly three times greater than diamonds produced by DPA members in 2016, according to the report.
DPA Chief Executive Jean-Marc Lieberherr commented that the report “breaks outdated stereotypes and misconceptions and identifies the next set of challenges that must be met to continue to evolve and improve as an industry”.
