The recent introduction of synthetic or manufactured diamonds into the global marketplace has been a source of confusion for many purchasers mindful of making an environmentally responsible choice when buying a diamond.
Promoted by producers as being the ‘earth friendly alternative’ to natural diamonds, recent data has shown that the man made manufacturing of synthetic stones has a carbon footprint 3 times that of natural diamond recovery cited as 511kg compared to 160kg of carbon emissions per polished carat produced by the natural diamond recovery process*.
The manufacturing of man-mademass produced diamonds is a factory based, resource intensive process consuming large amounts of fossil fuels including gas and coal to generate the extreme temperatures required to artificially produce the synthetic diamond rough.
The relatively new and privately owned synthetic diamond industry also lacks the accountability of its earth borne natural diamond counterpart that is strictly regulated and highly scrutinised including employing third party agencies to monitor environmental impacts of production.
This lack of transparency, fixing of a nominal market price that does not reflect the true cost of production and unsubstantiated claims of environmental sensitivity makes choosing a man-made diamond a well-intentioned but not truly environmental decision.
