Dubai jeweller partners with Leonardo DiCaprio-backed company for carbon-neutral diamonds

Etika Jewels, a Dubai-based sustainable online jewellery retailer, has collaborated with Diamond Foundry, a California-based lab-grown diamond manufacturer, to provide carbon-free diamonds in the UAE.

The lab-grown diamonds will be offered in addition to Etika Jewels' existing ethical lab-grown diamond collection, it said.

“Our mission at Etika Jewels is to give customers access to responsible jewellery with distinctive features while empowering them to spend consciously,” said Basma Chaieri, the company's founder.

“As part of our continued commitment to sustainability, we are excited to … be the first to offer a revolutionary diamond concept in the UAE.

“By providing carbon-free lab-grown diamonds that are celebrity-approved, we hope to inspire change in the local diamond industry and give customers a chance to look their best with stand out pieces, without worrying about impacts on the environment and other stakeholders.”

The Diamond Foundry, which has attracted investment from Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, is the first producer in the world using proprietary technology to grow diamonds in laboratories with no carbon emissions, thanks to a hydropower process, it said.

The diamonds are created by replicating extreme natural conditions in the earth’s depths and avoiding the environmental toll of mining.

With extreme heat created by plasma reactors and precise engineering, carbon atoms start stacking on top of a tiny diamond foundation, gradually extending to its unique crystal structure and developing into a jewellery-grade lab-grown diamond, atomically identical to its mined counterpart.

The collaboration ensures that the history of each diamond is secured through a vertically integrated supply chain.

Etika will offer the carbon-neutral diamond option in a large selection of solitaires from 0.8 carat and above, it said.

It became the latest lab-grown diamond player to break into the UAE market when it launched in the country in September.

Brands such as Pandora, Kimai and Brilliant Earth are also offering planet and money-conscious buyers diamonds that were grown by human hand rather than being formed over hundreds of years.

Lab-grown diamonds can be up to 30 per cent cheaper than natural stones.

The emissions on a single carat of mined diamond are 1.5 billion times higher than those of a lab-grown one, according to figures by market research company Frost & Sullivan.