Jewellery and Environment

We specialize in jewellery made of silver, a metal known to be environmentally friendly.  

Why We Carbon Offset Our Jewellery

The jewellery industry as a whole, pound for pound, is a major CO2 polluter. This is why at SilverToLove we try to minimize and reverse any harmful emissions through the purchase of certified carbon credits via CarbonZero. In this way, all our jewellery supports Earth friendly carbon sequestering projects. 

Jewellery's High Carbon Foot-print

Let us use an example to illustrate just how much CO2e (carbon equivalent emissions) a single piece of jewelry can have.

Gold

Take a small, plain gold ring (with no gem), weighing just 6 grams. This simple small ring will have a carbon footprint of 98 kg of CO2e.** That is enough to drive from Toronto to Ottawa (284 miles / 457 km).***

Platinum

If that same simple ring was made of platinum, then its carbon footprint would be 240 kg CO2e, enough to drive from about Toronto to Nashville (697 miles / 1,122 km).

Gems

Gems are also massive CO2e polluters in their own right. Contrary to popular belief, naturally mined precious gems are not the biggest of these polluters. Generally speaking, synthetic or "grown" gems, emit much more CO2e, as they require vast amounts of energy to produce.

For example, a mined diamond will produce, per carat, 160 kg of CO2e from its extraction, cutting, and polishing. Whereas a market ready synthetically grown diamond of equal quality, per carat, will have produced 511 kg of CO2e in total emissions!‡ The equivalent of driving from about Toronto to Miami (1484 miles / 2,388 km).

Gold Diamond Ring

Now to conclude with our ring and car example. When we combine a 1 carat grown diamond onto that simple gold ring, the new carbon footprint of the combined piece would be 609 kg of CO2e, or the equivalent of driving from just about Toronto to Mexico (1768 miles / 2,845 km)!   

 

Low Carbon Alternatives

Silver

Silver is the best choice of the precious metals as its carbon footprint is 35 times less that of gold's, and a staggering 100 times less that of platinum's.** 

Now let us take a final look at the example above, except this time the simple 6 g ring is made of silver. Its carbon footprint would astonishingly only be 0.624 kg CO2e, a driving distance of only 1.8 miles (2.9 km)! By far, silver is the clear winner for the environment.

Pearls

In terms of gems, pearls are the other clear winner for the planet, as market ready pearls are virtually 100% naturally carbon neutral. The lands and water used to farm pearls are some of the most pristine in the world. Any local pollution in the environment will actually harm the quality of farmed pearls. As such, pearl farmers are protectors and advocates for the environment.  

Vermeil and Gold Filled

These are great environmental alternatives to pure gold jewelry. Vermeil is Sterling silver with a thick 2.5 micron (or more) coating of gold. Gold filled jewelry has an even thicker band of gold surrounding an alternative metal core (brass or silver). 

Carbon Offset

All SilverToLove jewellery has been carbon offset, regardless of the component metal and gems. This is the practice of removing C02 from the atmosphere, with the aim to reduce the amount that was created as result of producing each piece.

This makes all our jewelry choices good ones for the planet. So relax and breath easy, as you shop our quality jewelry. ♥

 

 

♥ SilverToLove does its best to ensure our jewellery has been completely carbon offset. However due to a lack of transparency in the jewellery industry, we are unable to at this time to certify carbon neutrality to a NetZero standard. We do hope to be able to include certification in the future. 

* Capital Counselor (https://capitalcounselor.com/jewelry-industry-statistics/)
** Benn Harvey-Walker (https://bennhw.medium.com/whats-the-carbon-cost-of-your-jewellery-907da828a364)
*** European Environment Agency (https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/average-co2-emissions-from-new)
‡ S&P Global (https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/documents/the-socioeconomic-and-environmental-impact-of-large-scale-diamond-mining_dpa_02-may-2019.pdf)