2024 Sustainability Report
Diamonds bring beauty to the world in many deep and meaningful ways. Our sustainability reports capture their impacts over the course of a year, for our people, our host countries, our clients and the world around us.
Through our materiality process, we work with our stakeholders to understand what they most want to hear about. These topics, along with International Sustainability Standards Board and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, steer what we cover within our sustainability reports.
Over the course of 2024, guided by what we heard, we evolved and streamlined our overall Building Forever sustainability strategy across four key areas of focus (livelihoods, climate, nature and provenance) to maximise our impact below.
2024 Sustainability Report
2024 Sustainability Highlights
Livelihoods
LIVELIHOODS: SUPPORTING JOBS, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD
Every natural diamond has a human story to tell. In 2024, our diamonds supported livelihoods directly, indirectly and through partnerships designed to support diversification beyond diamonds.
We also marked our safest year on record with our Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate falling to 1.2 (from 1.4 in 2023).
21,644 jobs
We’ve been supporting direct employment for over a century. Whilst 2024 was a challenging year, we continue to provide a considerable source of jobs to local citizens, including in areas of high unemployment.
$ 1.74 Bn
Beyond direct employment, we support many more livelihoods indirectly. In 2024, we spent $1.74bn on goods and services from local suppliers (74% of total spend) providing a ripple effect in our host country economies
3,400 +
Entrepreneurs
As the life of every mine is finite, we support diversification beyond diamonds. Since 2018, we've supported the equivalent of more than two times more jobs off site for every on site job, including through our Stanford Seed entrepreneur development programme, which has created over 3,400 new jobs across southern Africa.
Case study
EntreprenHER
We've been working with UN Women since 2018 to help empower female entrepreneurs through EntreprenHer. This programme aims to help grow female owned businesses through training, mentorship and facilitating access to business networks, enabling them to create livelihoods for themselves and local communities.
In 2024, the programme had supported over 3,100 women entrepreneurs, and building on it's success, was extended for a further three years.
“I learned how to market my products, calculate profits, and keep records.”
Maria Khukhwane, EntreprenHer participant, Botswana.
Climate
CLIMATE: TAKING ACTION TO MINIMISE OUR FOOTPRINT AND HELP TACKLE THE GLOBAL CRISIS
Aligned and verified by the Science-Based Targets initiative, we’ve committed to reducing our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 42% by 2030 (from 2021). So far, we’ve reduced emissions by 7% since 2021, and with new renewable energy projects in the works, we expect to see a scaling of these emission reductions in the coming years.
In 2024, we also conducted studies into alternative fuels across our sites in southern Africa, and explored innovative circular and biomass ‘drop in’ green fuel diesel replacement solutions, including fuels made from end of life tyres, zero-fossil-emission hydrotreated vegetable oil, and plant based feedstocks.
7 %
Reduction is Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions since 2021.
248 MW
Of renewable energy under plan in 2024.
100 %
On track to delivering our first mine that uses 100% renewable electricity in 2026.
De Beers Group Emissions Graph
Case study
Envusa
Our parent group - Anglo American - has partnered with EDF Renewables through a joint venture called Envusa Energy, to develop a wind and solar power network within southern Africa.
In 2024, we completed an energy offtake agreement with Envusa Energy to supply renewable (48 MW wheeled) electricity to Venetia mine. In parallel, we have also completed a pre-feasibility study on the option to embed a 40MW on-site solar power plant at Venetia in South Africa which would form part of the Envusa network. As we transition to underground operations in Venetia, we’re electrifying as far as possible, with the aim of operating our first diamond mine that uses 100% renewable electricity in 2026.
Nature
Nature: Minimising our impact and continually seeking to restore the ecosystems around us
Diamonds are one of nature’s greatest and most beautiful treasures. As a result, we are deeply inspired by- and committed to - nature.
100 %
Within our operations
We aim to avoid, minimise, restore and – if remaining- offset impacts on biodiversity. All our active operational mines have Net Positive Impact-aligned biodiversity management programmes in development
377,000 Acres
Beyond our operations
We have restored and now manage over 377,000 acres for conservation in southern Africa, home to 15 endangered species. This is equivalent to protecting two acres of land for conservation for every one we use for mining
10 rhinos
We translocated 10 white rhinos from one of our game parks in Botswana to a South African reserve as part of a regional rewilding project.
Through our partnerships
We work to scale our nature impact through partnerships with others. In 2024, this included:
African Penguin
In Namibia, we collaborated to build a seabird rescue facility to help support efforts to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered African Penguin alongside the treatment of 30+ other seabird species.
Discover more
Okavango Eternal
We continued to extend the impact of our Okavango Eternal partnership with National Geographic to help protect the source waters of the Okavango Delta. In 2024, this included environmental mapping and monitoring, as well as supporting education and livelihoods.
Discover more
Provenance
PROVENANCE - BUILDING CONFIDENCE
We provide a unique level of traceability and assurance around both where - and how - our diamonds have been sourced.
In 2024 we re-certified with the Responsible Jewellery Council.
2.8 M
Rough diamonds registered
Traceability
Our industry-leading traceability platform, Tracr, is the world’s only distributed diamond blockchain that starts at the source. It uses technologies including the blockchain, the Internet of Things, AI and advanced scanners to create a digital ID for each unique diamond. By 2024, 2.8M of our diamonds were registered on the platform, and Tracr introduced new verifications to link manufacturers to individual country of origin for the first time.
274,000
People covered
Assurance
In 2005, we launched our Best Practice Principles Assurance Programme, amongst the strictest set of standards in the industry. Going beyond conflict free, this independent annual assessment holds us and businesses across our value chain to account, to best practice ESG standards- including labour and human rights, checking these standards are upheld throughout the diamond's journey. In 2024, it covered over 274,000 people in 79 countries.
10,000
Bought out 10,000th diamond through GemFair, our artisanal mining assurance programme.
In 2024, we launched a mid-term review of our Building Forever framework, to ensure that we are focusing on topics that create most value for our stakeholders. Please get in touch at: [email protected] if you would like to contribute to the review, which will conclude in 2025.
Historical Sustainability Reports
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POLICIES
Partnering with host countries
We've been operating through partnerships within our host countries for decades. This gives us a unique perspective on the challenges faced and the solutions possible from the ground up.