Chopard’s co-president Karl Friedrich Scheufele said the brand wanted to “make a difference to the lives of people who make our business possible.”
ADVERTISEMENTSwiss jeweller and watchmaker Chopard has pledged its commitment to sustainable luxury, announcing that it will only use ethically sourced gold as of July.
Chopard said its “ethical gold” will be acquired from responsible sources, and be verified as having met international best practice standards.
“As a family run business, sustainability has always been a core value, and today sees the culmination of a vision started more than 30 years ago,” the company said in a statement.
Karl Friedrich Scheufele, Chopard’s co-president, said the brand was making the “bold commitment” to “make a difference to the lives of people who make our business possible.”
Several celebrities, including actors Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, also threw their support behind the announcement.
The commitment comes after a Human Rights Watch report in February categorised Chopard as “weak” in terms of its approach to ethical sourcing, saying few positive steps had been taken.
The NGO warned that the conditions under which gold and diamonds are mined can be brutal, citing deaths of child miners, evictions of indigenous people, pollution caused by toxic chemicals from mines, and the impact of armed groups exploiting the materials.
“Jewellery companies have a responsibility to ensure that their businesses do not contribute to human rights abuses at any point in their supply chains,” it said.
