As we speak, it’s not that robust to find a conflict-free engagement ring. Nonetheless, once more when Beth Gerstein, co-founder of Smart Earth, acquired engaged, points have been loads fully completely different. When Gerstein acquired engaged, she couldn’t uncover an ethically made engagement ring, so she partnered with Eric Grossberg to fill this gap accessible available in the market. And so, Smart Earth was born in 2005, with its web page launching in 2006.
To begin with, Smart Earth used Canadian Mines as the primary supplier of their ethical diamonds. They’ve since begun using completely different mines that conform to their ethical concepts, along with mines in Botswana and Russia. Furthermore, they primarily use recycled and re-refined gold of their jewelry as part of their environmental dedication.
This all sounds good in precept, nevertheless this Smart Earth Evaluation seeks to know whether or not or not this agency is just about nearly as good as their phrase. Subsequently, what follows is an examination of Smart Earth’s assertion that they provide solely ethical diamonds and gold to their prospects.
Previous Battle-Free
What models Smart Earth apart from completely different ethical jewelry firms is that they require their suppliers to go above and previous the ethical necessities set out by the Kimberly Course of. The Kimberly Course of defines conflict-free diamonds as ones that have not been used to finance rebel actions. Previous Battle-Free diamonds, however, ought to go further than this.
Together with not financing rebel actions, these diamonds ought to moreover come from mines that defend in the direction of human rights abuses. These mines even have to cut back environmental degradation, preserve safe and accountable labor practices, and assist group development.
Recycled Gold
Gold mining has a sordid historic previous. Gold mining has carried out a process in civil wars, labor abuses, and environmental destruction. For that cause, Smart Earth solely makes use of recycled gold of their jewelry with a view to cut back the demand for newly mined gold.
Smart Earth sources their recycled gold from licensed accountable refiners which had been inspected to substantiate that they adhere to the necessities set out by organizations such as a result of the Accountable Minerals Initiative and the London Bullion Market Affiliation. Furthermore, they provide gold from post-consumer provides like industrial-use metals, digital elements, and naturally, jewelry.
Furthermore, Smart Earth donates 5% of its net earnings to packages working to cut back the environmental impression of gold mining.
Now that we’ve established why Smart Earth calls itself a supplier of ethical diamonds and gold, let’s verify these claims:
Ethical Diamond Suppliers: Are They Really Previous Battle-Free?
Smart Earth can trace and segregate their diamonds by origin. They require their suppliers to maintain up a robust chain of custody protocol that ensures the diamonds come from the place they’re saying they do. On this strategy, they’re going to guarantee that their diamonds come from one amongst their authorised mines.
The mines that Smart Earth works with have demonstrated their dedication to following the Previous Battle-Free mandate’s labor, commerce, and environmental necessities. These mines are located in Canada, Botswana Kind, and Russia.
Furthermore, a bunch of Smart Earth’s diamond has a GIA Diamond Origin Report. GIA collects and analyzes bodily measurements, imaging, and spectroscopic data of a tricky diamond. They then assign this robust diamond a singular identification amount. Using this amount, GIA can scientifically match a elegant diamond to the distinctive robust crystal it originated from.
On this strategy, they’re going to trace the diamond from its provide to its closing state.
Recycled Gold that Meets Explicit Necessities
Based mostly on Smart Earth, the recycled gold that they use meets the necessities set forth by the Accountable Minerals Initiative and the London Bullion Market. The Accountable Minerals Initiative supplies firms and suppliers a third-party, unbiased audit that demonstrates which smelters and refiners have packages in place to provide responsibly sourced minerals consistent with current world necessities.
The London Bullion Market is liable for the World Treasured Metals Code. This code models out the necessities and biggest practices anticipated from market people throughout the wholesale beneficial metals market. All members of the London Bullion Market have to stay to the concepts of the code.
Subsequently, what this tells us is that Smart Earth takes the sourcing of their recycled metallic critically as they modify to the necessities of not one nevertheless two organizations.
Conclusion
Smart Earth is a provider of ethical diamonds and gold. Everyone knows this because of they’ve a mandate solely to provide their diamonds and gold from accountable suppliers. We’ve verified that they take all of the necessary steps to guarantee that their suppliers are ethical and cling to explicit suggestions.
