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Today we’re talking about diamonds and how new technology might be able to make us feel a little bit better about the symbol of love. Let’s get into it.

The real cost of diamonds

Diamonds represent love, luxury, and status. They’re are also one of the most carbon-intensive products on the planet. The mining, cutting, and transportation of diamonds makes an outsized contribution to the emission of greenhouse gases. On average, 160 kg of greenhouse gases is released per polished carat of mined diamond.

The second order effects are hard to measure but potentially even more destructive. Mining efforts in particular, disturb large amounts of wildlife and can even end up polluting local drinking water. Don’t even get us started about the social impact diamond deposits have.

Carbon-neutral Carats

One potential solution to the environmental and social impact of diamond mining is the use of synthetic diamonds. Synthetic diamonds are created in a lab using advanced technology, rather than being mined from the earth. As a result, they have a much lower carbon footprint - think Impossible Burgers but diamonds. Okay, that sounded better in my head.

Not only are synthetic diamonds more environmentally and socially conscious, they also have a number of practical benefits. For one, they’re cheaper than mined diamonds, making them a more accessible option for consumers. Additionally, synthetic diamonds can be made to have specific characteristics, such as color or clarity, that are difficult or impossible to find in natural diamonds. The question is, do consumers consider these diamonds real?

Take the Diamond Foundry which has raised over $100m in venture capital funding to bring synthetic diamonds to the mass-market. Last year, they manufactured over 10,000 carats of diamonds and they say their revenue is doubling every quarter. That’s a hell of a lot of diamonds that someone’s buying.

This technology is not particularly new, in fact scientists have been growing diamonds in labs for decades. Big diamond companies have long been campaigning against the methods, arguing that these don’t have the emotional significance of natural diamonds - they’ve been running the ‘real is rare’ campaign for years now.

On top of all of this, critics question the claims that these diamonds are better for the environment, arguing that it comes down to the power sourced used and the specific methods. At the end of the day, consumer preferences win - I don’t know about you but the Strawman doesn’t mind his diamonds lab-grown.

Until next time,

The Strawman