'Good as gold' not good enough: New labels promote ethical metal

PARIS - Forget how many carats - how ethical is your gold? As high-end consumers demand to know the origin of their treasures, some jewelers are ensuring they use responsibly sourced, eco-friendly or recycled gold The Geneva-based firm, which makes the Palme d'Or trophy for the Cannes Film Festival, says it now uses only verified suppliers of gold that meet strict standards to minimize the negative environmental impacts of mining the precious metal Among the many certificates and standards claiming to codify "Responsible" gold mining, two labels stand out: "Fairmined" gold - a label certified by a Colombian NGO - and the more widely known "Fairtrade," a label launched by Swiss foundation Max Havelaar.

The French luxury group Kering, which says it has bought more than 3.5 tons of "Responsibly produced" gold since 2015 for its Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo and Gucci brands, has committed to 100 percent use of "Ethical" gold by 2020 Fairmined or fairtrade gold is "About 10 to 12 percent more expensive But recycled gold barely generates any additional cost premium," Piroddi said, since it was already refined for its previous life in jewelry or as part of a high-tech product.

"We do not want to promote mining extraction or use recently extracted gold, so we sought suppliers who recycle gold used in graphics cards or computer processors That's because we know today that more than half of gold's available reserves have already been extracted," said Marie-Ann Wachtmeister, Courbet's co-founder and artistic director He represents the fifth generation of the family controlling Ponce, which produces 45,000 gold rings a year from recycled gold. Source