Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and Bain & Company
Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2018-01 to 2019-06)
Reporting Period: 2018-01 to 2019-06
Environmental Metrics
ESG Focus Areas
- Sustainability
- Social Welfare
- Transparency
Environmental Achievements
- De Beers cut energy consumption per carat by ~16% in 2018 compared with 2015
- Leading diamond miners collectively conserved over 260,000 hectares
Social Achievements
- ALROSA’s Verhkne-Munskoe deposit created 1,000 jobs for people in northern Russia
- Training and education programs organized by Petra Diamonds Cullinan Charity Fund helped alleviate poverty and unemployment
- In partnership with UN Women, De Beers invested $3 million to promote gender equality
Governance Achievements
- Multiple industry initiatives are focused on pipeline transparency and traceability
Climate Goals & Targets
Environmental Challenges
- Short-term challenges caused mining and midstream revenues to shrink by 25% and 10%, respectively, in 2019.
- Available financing for midstream players decreased by $5 billion since 2013.
- Global diamond jewelry retail sales are expected to decline by up to 2% in US dollars in 2019.
- Softer demand for polished diamonds led to a 3% drop in polished prices and is expected to lead to 10% to 15% lower revenues for midstream players.
- Rough diamond sales are expected to fall by 25% in 2019.
- The rapid growth of e-commerce in the diamond jewelry market lowered polished sales performance in 2019.
- The lab-grown diamond market grew 15% to 20% again in 2019.
Mitigation Strategies
- Major mining companies are adjusting production plans for 2019, cutting their minimum purchase requirements in half and lowering rough diamond prices by about 5%.
- Smaller players are dropping prices more significantly (as much as 10%), and many smaller producers skipped planned auctions in the third and fourth quarters.
- Mining companies increased their marketing efforts, both brand-focused and generic, and raised marketing budgets to historically high levels.
- Multiple industry initiatives are focused on pipeline transparency and traceability.