(PRESS RELEASE)HOD HASHARON, ISRAEL – Singapore Exchange Mainboard (SGX) and Tel-Aviv (TASE) listed Sarine Technologies Ltd. (“Sarine” and along with its subsidiaries “the Group”) (U77:SI; SARN.TA), a worldwide leader in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sale of precision technology products for the evaluation, planning, processing, measurement, grading and trading of diamonds and gems, is pleased to announce the introduction of CarbonVERO, a ground-breaking unique offering that meticulously records the energy consumption and carbon footprint of each individual diamond, from its origin as mined rough to its exquisite polished form. The resultant exhaustive data is made accessible via Sarine’s Diamond Journey traceability solution. This pioneering innovation is the result of a strategic collaboration with highly respected diamond manufacturer and trader Andre Messika Ltd. and The Carbon Trust, a renowned authority in carbon emissions assessment.
Never before has a rough diamond manufacturing facility measured each individual stage of the cutting and polishing process to achieve a cumulative result on the process’ environmental impact. This data will now be accrued and accessible as another layer of information in Sarine’s Diamond Journey traceability reporting, covering scopes 1, 2 and 3 data – from the mined source extraction process through to the cutting and polishing of the final product, with further capability to include freight and distribution impacts from the factory right up until the polished diamond reaches the customer’s door.
Andre Messika Ltd. will apply CarbonVERO, a construct for capturing raw data, to all its Namibian sourced diamonds, providing supply chain insights and adding a new layer to traceability – tracing the carbon impact. While many organizations are undertaking various types of carbon footprinting, this is the first time in the diamond industry where the actual measurement and calculation of the energy consumption and CO2 emissions from mined rough to polished gem for each individual diamond will be provided. CarbonVERO will empower both B2B manufacturers and B2C diamond brands to disclose key environmental impact data transparently to their customers.
The Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC; part of the De Beers Group of Companies) rough diamond supply channel and Andre Messika Ltd.’s Namibia-based polishing facilities were used as the initial benchmark, integrating NDTC’s mining data to the factory’s processes, to enable CarbonVERO to achieve pilot figures for the launch.
The Carbon Trust has created the foundation dataset required for ongoing reporting, which considers the annual input of materials, energy, transportation, processing, ancillary and waste data. When combined with Sarine’s technologically based tracking of each individual diamond, the result is a comprehensive report, which can be tailored to individual customer’s reporting needs. To ensure accuracy, ongoing sub-metering is implemented to reflect seasonal changes in the factory readings, and this remains a CarbonVERO priority.
In addition to this, The Carbon Trust has also created a Product Carbon Footprint, which tracks the diamond from mine, through Andre Messika Ltd.’s Namibian factory, and then on to the polished diamond distribution channel, as the blueprint for raw data-capture, which is currently pending ISO Verification carbon footprinting status.
With extensive reach throughout the natural diamond supply chain, and particularly the manufacturing segment, Sarine is well-positioned to promote the CarbonVERO reporting service. Interest from B2C entities will be matched by Sarine with CarbonVERO-approved manufacturers, those who undertake the accredited independent factory measurements (as per the data-logging and sub-metering requirements necessary to capture these granular data), who will best fit the retailers’ needs in terms of CarbonVERO-approved inventory. Thus, the service is tailored to a specific diamond segment as per the intended consumers.
Andre Messika Ltd.’s chairman, André Messika, remarked, “Tracing the carbon impact per diamond from origin to consumer was the logical next step in a trajectory of traceability programs and diamond provenance traceability initiated five years ago.”
Sarine’s CEO, David Block, stated: “We are proud of being part of yet another innovative initiative that adds an additional layer of transparency to the diamond industry, providing crucial information about the energy consumed and CO2 emitted during the diamond’s formative processes. Our commitment is to deliver this data with the highest level of assurance, enabling the industry to offer sustainable products and ensure a beneficial future for all.” Block added, “It is a pleasure for us to collaborate with Andre Messika once again, who is at the forefront of the industry in his belief in transparency and excellence, to the benefit of all the industry’s stakeholders.”