Jewellery brand Pandora said it has changed its precious metals supply and is now sourcing only recycled silver and gold for all its jewellery, helping it avoid around 58,000 tons CO2 per year. This is similar to the annual electricity use of 11,000 homes or driving 6,000 cars around the world, the company said.
The carbon footprint of recycled silver is one-third compared to mined silver, while the recycling of gold emits less than 1% of the carbon emissions from mining new gold.
“Precious metals can be recycled forever without any loss of quality. Silver originally mined centuries ago is just as good as new, and improved recycling can significantly reduce the climate footprint of the jewellery industry,” said CEO Alexander Lacik.
Allowing time for the depletion of existing inventory of metals, Pandora expects that it will craft all new jewellery with 100% recycled silver and gold from the second half of 2024. In 2023, 97% of the silver and gold sourced for Pandora’s jewellery was recycled.
All suppliers have had to switch their operations to only source materials that are certified recycled according to the Responsible Jewellery Council Chain of Custody.