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announced last week that it would become the world's first
jewelry company to share with its consumers information about the country of origin of each
diamond they sell. This is the first in a step of transparency
measures that the company is undertaking. By 2020, Tiffany hopes to
provide its customers with information about where each diamond was
cut, polished, and set; and in the future it aspires to disclose to
its customers details of where each diamond was sourced, the
artisans who shaped it, and the jewelers who set it.
These measures are a big step forward for supply chain
transparency and accountability not just in the diamond industry,
but for any industry. While Tiffany and other major international
jewelry brands have guaranteed consumers that their diamonds are ethically sourced, more and more consumers are
interested in ensuring that their purchases are not associated with
forced labor, child labor, armed conflict, or wide-scale
environmental degradation—among other ills.
Ensuring an ethical supply chain is particularly challenging
with diamonds because they change hands many times during the
production process. In 2000, several diamond-producing
countries established the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme ("KPCS") to prevent the
sale of "blood diamonds" that were fueling violent
conflicts throughout sub-Saharan Africa—most notably civil
wars in Sierra Leone, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
KPCS member-countries agree to meet minimum standards to certify
that their diamonds are conflict-free, including national
legislation, export and import controls, and committing to
transparency.
While the KPCS was an important first step, the diamond industry
is still far from conflict-free. According to reports, there is
still significant violence related to diamond mining, most notably
in Zimbabwe, where in 2008 the country's army violently took
over the Marange diamond field, resulting in over 100
deaths. While efforts like the KPCS have been important in cleaning
up the diamond trade, efforts like the one Tiffany is planning to
undertake address not only the shortcomings of the KCPS, but the
heightened expectations of customers in today's marketplace
regarding the ethical sourcing of the products they buy.
As more and more consumers think about how something they are
buying came to be in the first place, ensuring ethical sourcing
will be a business strategy that will yield increasing returns over
time for the jewelry and other industries.
To view Foley Hoag's Corporate Social Responsibility
Blog please click
here
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