In 2016, Chopard unveiled a major new step in its ‘Journey to Sustainable Luxury’ when for the first time it enriched its Green Carpet Collection of High Jewellery with responsibly mined emeralds. 

Today, iconic jewellery models in this collection are set with these precious green gems. By adding coloured stones to its roadmap towards sustainable luxury, the Geneva-based Maison continues to blaze the trail and play a pioneering role in the jewellery industry. 

It was in 2013 that Chopard began ‘The Journey to Sustainable Luxury’, a broad-scale project intended to lay the groundwork and position Chopard as market leaders for sustainable luxury in the watchmaking/jewellery sector. The firm accordingly committed itself to working alongside Eco-Age, the sustainable brand consultancy and its creative director Livia Firth, who strives to promote ethics in the fashion world through the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC).

After gold, diamonds and opals, coloured stones are now taking their place in the Green Carpet Collection via a unique strategic partnership forged by Chopard with Gemfields, the world leader in the extraction of coloured gemstones. 

From now on, new creations in the Green Carpet Collections will be adorned with responsibly mined Zambian emeralds from the Gemfields’ Kagem mine. 

“The Journey” begins at the very start of the production chain, with respectful sourcing of raw materials validated by Eco-Age. The ethically certified Fairmined gold from which the jewellery models are made comes from mining communities in South America supported by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM). 

Chopard was determined to put in place a lasting cooperative endeavour with these mines, laying the foundations for fair commercial exchange, thereby enabling local populations to achieve favourable economic and social development.

The diamonds come from the mines of the IGC group, one of the world’s oldest diamond companies, which is certified by the practices of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) and meets the demands of this supervisory body in ethical, social and environmental terms. 

A first for the industry in the realm of coloured gemstones, the emeralds henceforth used by Chopard meet the Principles of Sustainable Excellence, in keeping with GCC set by Eco-Age. An expert in sustainable mining practice and a partner to Chopard in developing the Journey to Sustainable Luxury, Eco-Age uses the GCC Principles of Sustainable Excellence to check the mining sites and their organisation, notably with regard to social and environmental protection, training and workers’ safety. 

In 2014, Chopard enriched its Green Carpet Collection with a new jewellery set dressed in diamonds from a Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) cerrified supplier, featuring a design inspired by the Palme d’or, the famous golden palm-leaf trophy that the Geneva-based House has for the past two decades been designing and crafting for the Cannes Film Festival. 

Responsibly sourced emeralds from Gemfields mines are now embellishing these iconic jewellery creations through a watch, a pair of earrings and a ring in ethical 18-carat white gold certified Fairmined.