https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56972562 BBC Homepage * Skip to content * Accessibility Help * BBC Account * Home * News * Sport * Reel * Worklife * Travel * Future * Culture * MenuMore Search * Home * News * Sport * Reel * Worklife * Travel * Future * Culture * Music * TV * Weather * Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu * Home * Coronavirus * Video * World * US & Canada * UK * Business * Tech * Science * Stories * Entertainment & Arts More * Health * In Pictures * Reality Check * World News TV * Newsbeat * Long Reads * Business * Market Data * New Economy * New Tech Economy * Companies * Entrepreneurship * Technology of Business * Economy * CEO Secrets * Global Car Industry * Business of Sport Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever By Jonathan Josephs Business reporter, BBC News Published 17 hours ago comments Comments Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Related Topics * Climate change shopping at Pandora Marble Arch store in Londonimage copyrightGetty Images image captionPandora is launching its lab-made diamonds in the UK ahead of a global rollout The world's biggest jeweller, Pandora, says it will no longer sell mined diamonds and will switch to exclusively laboratory-made diamonds. Concerns about the environment and working practices in the mining industry have led to growing demand for alternatives to mined diamonds. Pandora's chief executive, Alexander Lacik, told the BBC the change was part of a broader sustainability drive. He said the firm was pursuing it because "it's the right thing to do". They are also cheaper: "We can essentially create the same outcome as nature has created, but at a very, very different price." Mr Lacik explains they can be made for as little as "a third of what it is for something that we've dug up from the ground." * How do you know your diamond isn't fake? * How to make a diamond in a day * Purple-pink diamond sells for $26.6m (PS20.1m) In 2020, worldwide lab-grown diamond production grew to between 6 and 7 million carats. Meanwhile the production of mined diamonds fell to 111 million carats last year, having peaked at 152 million in 2017, according to a report from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and the consultancy Bain & Company. Production fell most in Russia, Canada, Botswana and Australia. Lab-grown diamondsimage copyrightAFP image captionLab-grown diamonds such as these from the French company, Diam-Concept are growing in popularity The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the diamond industry. De Beers, which produces about one-fifth of the world's mined diamonds, says production fell 18% last year. Economic uncertainty and lockdowns led to a slump in demand and falling prices, although there has been something of a recovery since. Sales boost? Pandora's lab-made diamonds are being made in Britain, and the UK is the first country where they will be sold. The new diamond jewellery will start at PS250 ($350). Although diamonds have traditionally only been a very small share of the 100 million pieces Pandora sells worldwide each year, Mr Lacik believes that will be boosted by lower prices. "Pandora jewellery today is much more of an everyday type of jewellery, even though a large proportion of it is gifted. The way the diamond industry has kind of been created to a large degree has been very much about gifting, and in particular around when people get engaged or married". Pandora CEO Alexander Lacikimage copyrightPandora image captionPandora CEO Alexander Lacik thinks lab-grown diamonds can help the whole industry grow "We're trying to open up this playing field and say, you know, with the type of value equation that we offer, you can use this everyday if you want." He expects people to buy gifts more often for themselves instead. "What might very well happen is actually that the total demand for diamonds is going to increase. So it may actually not be a question of, we steal somebody else's lunch". A shop assistant wearing gloves and face mask serves a customer in a Pandora store in Southend, UKimage copyrightGetty Images image captionPandora hopes that the lower price of lab-made diamonds will lead to increased sales Olya Linde, the lead author of the Bain report, agrees that there is room for both. "I believe that natural diamonds and lab grown diamonds can wonderfully coexist and grow the overall diamond market. There's clear demand for each type of product." Better design and lower prices are, says Ms Linde, the top reasons why customers pick lab-made diamonds over their naturally occurring counterparts. Concerns about the environmental, sustainability and ethical impact of mined diamonds didn't make the top five. Changing tastes However, Bain's survey found that concerns about sustainability were more important to "Millennials" and "Gen-Z" than older age groups when buying diamond jewellery. One problem with lab-made diamonds, though, is that they can take a lot of energy to produce. Between 50% and 60% of them come from China, where they are made in a process known as "high-pressure, high-temperature technology". The use of coal powered electricity is widespread. media captionLaboratory-made diamonds are today all but indistinguishable from the real thing However in the United States, the biggest retail market for lab-grown diamonds, there is a greater focus on using renewable energy. The largest US producer, Diamond Foundry, says its process is "100% hydro-powered, meaning zero emissions". Both types are chemically and physically identical to mined diamonds. But conflict-free production is still a big concern for customers across different age groups, according to Bain. It's now more than 20 years since the Kimberley Process came into force. The UN-backed process aims to stop diamonds being used to fuel conflicts after years of that happening in countries such as Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Leonardo DiCaprio at 2006 Hollywood premier of Blood Diamondimage copyrightGetty Images image captionActor Leonardo DiCaprio invested in Diamond Foundry after starring in Hollywood thriller "Blood Diamond" Last year, a report by Human Rights Watch found that some major jewellery companies were doing better at sourcing mined diamonds, "but most cannot assure consumers that their jewellery is untainted by human rights abuses". It found that Pandora was one of the best performers, having taken significant steps towards responsible sourcing. But for the World Diamond Council (WDC), which represents the mined diamond industry, lab-made diamonds are not the answer. It says any suggestion they "would have a role in preventing trade in conflict diamonds is spurious and not based on fact". The WDC adds that for people living in artisanal and small-scale diamond mining communities stopping the mining of diamonds "would remove a primary source of income" and "would have devastating impacts on their livelihoods, causing poverty and further unrest". media captionMining diamonds in Botswana Pandora chief Mr Lacik says the long term is what matters when it comes to the company's approach to sustainability. "Whether consumers are buying more or less today, right now is actually not the key driver," he says. "We want to become a low-carbon business. I have four children, I'm leaving this earth one day, I hope I can leave it in a better shape than maybe what we've kind of created in the last 50 years or so." View comments Related Topics * Mining * Environment * Jewellery * Sustainability * Companies * Africa * Millennials * Climate change * Diamonds More on this story * Purple-pink diamond sells for $26.6m (PS20.1m) Published 11 November 2020 * Can you spot a laboratory-made diamond? Published 21 October 2015 * Eco-friendly diamonds made from the sky Published 30 October 2020 * Pandora paying all staff in full through pandemic Published 8 November 2020 Top Stories * Biden lays out plan to vaccinate young US teens The president's new Covid-19 targets would allow teens ages 12-15 to be vaccinated, pending approval. Published 2 hours ago * India opposition calls for full national lockdown Published 5 hours ago * Bill and Melinda Gates have 'agreed estate split' Published 7 hours ago Features * Anger rises as Covid rages in Modi's constituency Cremations in Varanasi * Why 2021 is shaping up to be Dove Cameron's year Dove Cameron * The Americans hesitant about the Covid vaccine. 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