Looking for a zero-impact diamond? This is the only one.

The phrase ‘sustainable diamond’ has a nice ring to it and in recent years, has become a marketing buzz term often associated with lab-grown diamonds. While it’s true that, generally speaking, diamonds manufactured in a lab compare favorably to the methods used to mine natural diamonds from the earth, these lab-grown gems are not without concerns. 

According to earth911.com, it’s important that consumers understand how a lab-produced diamond is created because some lab practices may not be any better than traditional diamond mining side effects. They point out the following Pros and Cons:

• Pro: They cost less to purchase. Lab-grown diamonds cost 10% to 30% less than what Mother Earth creates, so you can get a bigger stone if that’s what you’re looking for, upgrade clarity and color to have a truly unique stone, and enjoy fewer impurities.
• Pro: They are real diamonds. Lab diamonds are nearly identical to mined diamonds’ physical, chemical, and cosmetic characteristics. They may even have better clarity, which makes them brighter. They are not fake.
• Con: They are not as valuable. Manufactured diamonds might look pretty and are chemically identical, but they aren’t going to get you much in resale value. That is an important consideration for an investment piece of jewelry like an engagement ring.  
• Con: Their carbon footprint isn’t great. If the manufacturing process for lab-grown diamonds uses energy generated from fossil fuels, it may even create more carbon dioxide emissions than natural diamond mining; most factories still rely on fossil fuels to power the reactors.

Consider this: The only zero-impact diamond is a recycled one.

Recycled or repurposed diamonds are diamonds that were previously owned and later put back in the supply chain. Jewelry manufacturers at every level of business purchase wholesale repurposed diamonds. Recycled diamonds can be found in the showcases of almost every fine jewelry retailer, from designer boutiques to pawnshops. Because it is nearly impossible to determine whether a diamond is recycled or not, the stone’s status of newly mined vs. repurposed has little, if any, impact on the pricing or value. 

GIA Graduate Martin Strasser puts it this way, “At a simple level, there’s no such thing as a used diamond, but there ARE pre-owned diamonds. Strasser, who owns Premier Jewellery and Loan in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, notes that the difference is subtle but highly important. 

“The term ‘used’ implies that a portion of the item’s lifespan has been ‘used up’. A used car has mileage and wear. It may not have the same features as this year’s model. In short, on some level, a used car isn’t as good as a new car. The same comparison cannot be made about diamonds,” he explains.

Diamonds are (on average) 2.5 BILLION years old. They are the hardest natural substance on earth. They don’t go obsolete, they don’t expire, there is no ‘new model,’ and with normal wear, they will be the same 1000 years from now as they are today. In short, you can’t USE a diamond.

It is, however, possible for a diamond to be pre-owned. This simply means that someone else probably paid the high retail markup at the big box store. 

Committing to a sustainable lifestyle doesn’t mean giving up the tradition of diamond jewelry or sacrificing the investment value of your gemstones. In order to achieve both the highest value and the least environmental impact, carbon-conscious consumers should strongly consider purchasing a recycled natural mined diamond from a reputable reseller who can also provide a grading report from an entity like GIA, AGS, or JAGi.