Today, we announced 12 bold sustainability goals for the coming decade, including achieving gender parity throughout our workforce, supporting 10,000 women entrepreneurs in our diamond producing partner countries and becoming carbon neutral within our own operations by 2030.
The 12 goals are part of Building Forever, our commitment to creating a positive lasting impact that will endure well beyond the discovery of our last diamond. This commitment sits at the heart of everything we do, embedded within our commercial strategy, to ensure we maximise the positive impact of diamonds on their journey from discovery to retail.
Whilst Building Forever is not new for De Beers, through the launch of these goals we are committing to accelerating our progress, galvanising our employees, partners and consumers across more than 30 countries where we operate, to achieve a shared vision for a better future.
The goals are based around four pillars: leading ethical practices across industry; partnering for thriving communities; protecting the natural world; and accelerating equal opportunity, and include the following:
Leading Ethical Practices across Industry
By 2030 De Beers will:
• Extend its Best Practice Principles (a set of leading ethical, social and environmental standards) beyond its value chain to advance industry standards
• Provide the origin and impact of every diamond it discovers and sells
• Deliver scalable solutions to improve the livelihoods of artisanal miners
Partnering for Thriving Communities
By 2030 De Beers will:
• Achieve priority UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) health targets in all its partner communities
• Establish skills partnerships in all its partner communities
• Have supported four jobs across its partner countries for every one job at its operations
Protecting the Natural World
By 2030 De Beers will:
• Be carbon neutral across its operations
• Reduce its water footprint by 50%
• Achieve a net positive impact on biodiversity
Accelerating Equal Opportunity
By 2030 De Beers will:
• Achieve equal opportunity, including gender parity, for employees across its workforce
• Support 10,000 women entrepreneurs and engage 10,000 girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects
• Increase the diversity of creative talent in the diamond jewellery sector
Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: “As the world’s leading diamond company, and in recognition of the United Nations’ call for a ‘Decade of Action’ to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, we have both a unique opportunity and a profound responsibility to create lasting benefits for the people and places where diamonds are discovered. This is why our Building Forever sustainability framework is central to our business strategy, and why we have set ourselves these 12 ambitious goals. We are committed to supporting a lasting positive impact that will endure well beyond the discovery of our last diamond, and it is only by pushing ourselves to do more that we can maximise long-term benefits.”
Katie Fergusson, Senior Vice President, Sustainable Impact, De Beers Group, added: “Diamonds have a deep connection to the natural world and the communities near where they are found. We have made significant progress in recent years as we have sought to deliver positive outcomes throughout the sector and in our partner communities, but we recognise that there is still so much more we can do. On our journey to 2030, we will continue to innovate, challenge ourselves and learn from our partners as we work to achieve these ambitious goals.”
The 12 2030 Building Forever goals, and the operational plans, investments and milestones that underpin them, are the outcome of a multi-year programme to stretch the organisation’s vision of the positive lasting impact it could make. It has involved all parts of De Beers’ business, as well as both long-term and new partners, aligns with national and community development priorities and has been embedded in operational and leadership scorecards and incentive structures.
Find out more about our 2030 Building Forever goals at www.debeersgroup.com/2030goals.