Pandora A/S, which makes more pieces of jewelry than any other company in the world, is to stop using mined diamonds as part of a broader strategy to drop raw materials associated with unethical production methods.
Despite decades of reform, the global jewelry market remains tainted by reports of human rights abuses at mines and factories.
To address such concerns, Tiffany & Co last year started providing customers with details of newly sourced, individually registered diamonds that trace a stone’s path back to the mine.
Photo: Reuters
Yesterday, Copenhagen-based Pandora said that it would only use diamonds manufactured in laboratories.
The company is set to release its first collection using lab-made stones in the UK, and would expand to other markets next year.
The decision to shun mined diamonds comes less than a year after Pandora pledged to stop relying on newly mined gold and silver.
By 2025, its entire production would only use recycled precious metals as part of a plan to ensure that its operations are carbon neutral within four years.
Pandora’s lab-made diamonds are grown from carbon with more than 60 percent renewable energy on average, a ratio that is set to rise to 100 percent next year.
The company is taking a stand on its raw materials as investors increasingly focus on sustainability.
Nordea’s asset management unit recently said that it plans only to hold securities that live up to environmental, social and governance standards across all its portfolios.
To be sure, Pandora uses relatively few diamonds in its production. The firm, which has branded itself a maker of affordable trinkets, last year used mined diamonds in about 50,000 pieces of jewelry out of about 85 million pieces.
Lab-made stones cost about one-third the price of mined ones and the switch would make diamond jewelry accessible to more consumers, it said.
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
MARKET FACTORS: Navitas Semiconductor Inc said that Powerchip is to take over from TSMC as its supplier of high-voltage gallium nitride chips Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday in a statement said that it would phase out its compound semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) business over the next two years, citing market dynamics. The decision would not affect its financial targets announced previously, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said. “We are working closely with our customers to ensure a smooth transition and remain committed to meeting their needs during this period,” it said. “Our focus continues to be on delivering sustained value to our partners and the market.” TSMC’s latest move came unexpectedly, as the chipmaker had said in its annual report that it has
Rick Cassidy, the chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC, 台積電) US subsidiary, TSMC Arizona Corp, plans to retire, but the company has yet to name a successor. After Cassidy made his intention to retire known, TSMC Arizona held a special general meeting and approved a resolution that Cassidy would not continue as chairman and would not remain as a director, TSMC said in a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange last night. The meeting also approved a plan to appoint TSMC Arizona president Rose Castanares as a director, the company said, adding that Cassidy has been named as an advisor
SECURITY WARNING: The company possesses key 3-nanometer technology, and Taiwan should prevent it from being transferred to China, a lawmaker said The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would conduct a “strict review” of any proposed acquisition of Taiwanese tech company Source Photonics Co (索爾思光電), following media reports that a Chinese firm was planning to buy the company in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區). Local media reported that Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co (東山精密), China’s largest printed circuit board manufacturer, had announced plans to acquire Source Photonics for 5.9 billion yuan (US$823.1 million). The ministry said it has not received an application from Source Photonics and has formally notified the company that any buyout would constitute a change in its ownership structure. The
RSS