Following COP26 in Glasgow last month, climate change is firmly on everyone’s agenda. Founder of V&V, Victoria Waugh, gives advice on how the jewellery trade can help address what is arguably the biggest challenge affecting our world.
So, how does jewellery contribute to climate change?
Through our business activities we churn out greenhouse gases (GHG), which contribute to global warming. Carbon emissions (CO2) make up the majority of GHGs, and the amount we produce is called our carbon footprint. For jewellery businesses, they come from three main sources:
Fuel for heating, running vehicles, and onsite production processes
Electricity used by your business in offices, workshops or retail outlets
Indirect emissions linked to your company’s operations, including things like staff travel, waste disposal, the materials you buy, the production of your collections or the courier you use.
There are lots of free calculators online that can help you estimate the amount of CO2 you generate for the first two points on our list, including one from the Carbon Trust aimed at small businesses: SME Carbon Footprint Calculator
Once you’ve worked out your carbon footprint you can put a plan in place to monitor and reduce it over time. Start by identifying the areas in your business that have the biggest impact or where you can make quick improvements. This could be a small change like ensuring the light bulbs in your store are energy efficient. Or bigger ones, like using electric vehicles for company cars, and switching to a renewable energy supplier.
Your business’ website even generates a carbon footprint. Put your website address into the Website Carbon Calculator to find out how much and what to do to reduce it.
Dealing with your indirect emissions is more difficult. According to the World Gold Council 99% of the CO2 produced during jewellery production happens during the mining process. Therefore, choosing metals that have been certified as recycled could help to cut the emissions in your supply chain. Pandora certainly think so, as they’ve committed to sourcing solely recycled gold and silver by 2025 in a bid to become carbon neutral.
However, when sourcing gold and silver, don’t forget to incorporate some metal into your collection from certified artisanal mines, as your support to these groups helps them protect against climate impact in their communities. Contact Fairtrade Foundation or Fairmined for suppliers.
Offsetting your carbon emissions should be a last resort when you have reduced your output as much as possible. This means supporting projects that aim to decrease the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. There are a growing number of schemes supporting companies to offset. Choose wind or solar powered projects, rather than tree planting, and make sure you can track the impact.
If you’d like help understanding and reducing your carbon footprint drop us a line or check out our services. We’d be happy to support.
This article was first published in Professional Jeweller online magazine Nov 21.
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