This year’s CIBJO Congress, held in Brazil in May has become the jewellery sector’s first-ever major carbon-neutral event after the organisation purchased carbon credits to offset the carbon footprint it had generated. 

A complete carbon footprint report of the Congress was prepared by Carbon-Expert, an environmental consulting organisation that works closely with CIBJO.

Using the relevant ISO standards, Carbon-Expert carefully measured the carbon footprint of the 2015 CIBJO Congress, accounting for carbon gas emission generated at the congress venue itself, and also by congress participants in their preparation and travelling to and from the event. It estimated that about 600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions were associated with the congress. CIBJO will now purchase carbon credits in order to offset them, and so render the event carbon neutral.

CIBJO hopes that this will be used as a template for future events organized by it, and in general become a model that can be applied elsewhere in the jewellery sector.

Moya McKeown of Carbon-Expert said, “CIBJO is sending a clear message to the industry that all events should wherever possible be carbon neutral, thus minimizing their environmental impact.”

"The activities of CIBJO's Secretariat and administration were certified as carbon neutral both in 2013 and 2014, and we are now expanding the programme to include other activities," said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri.

Jonathan Kendall, President of CIBJO's Education and Marketing Commission, and one of the spearheads of the environmental awareness campaign said, “Our next goal is to encourage and support our members and non-members in the industry to realise the importance of achieving a good environmental record."