Editor’s Note
Pandora’s shift to 100% recycled gold and silver marks a significant step in reducing the jewelry industry’s carbon footprint, cutting an estimated 58,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. While this move highlights the growing role of circular practices in luxury manufacturing, it also underscores the ongoing challenge of ensuring transparent and traceable supply chains for recycled materials.
Thanks to recycled precious metals, Pandora will avoid emitting 58,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. However, verifying the origin of the recovered metals is more challenging.
Each year, Pandora purchases 340 tonnes of silver and one tonne of gold. (Shutterstock)
The major brand Pandora has just announced that it has completely changed its sourcing of precious metals. From now on, its jewelry will be manufactured exclusively from recycled gold and silver. The Danish jeweler is one year ahead of its schedule, as the goal of 100% recycled gold and silver was set for 2025.
With this measure, the brand estimates it will avoid emitting 58,000 tonnes of carbon annually.
Each year, the world’s largest jeweler by volume purchases 340 tonnes of silver and one tonne of gold. Recycled silver emits only one-third of the CO2 required to extract silver from a mine. As for recycled gold, its carbon footprint is barely equivalent to 1% of that of primary gold.
Switching to recycled silver is much more complicated than for gold, because unlike the yellow metal, only 20% of the silver supply comes from recovery. This is mainly explained by market prices, which are much more attractive for gold recycling.
The jeweler must also be very cautious in its sourcing because the traceability of recycled metals is much more difficult to verify than for primary gold, which comes straight from a mine. A metal of dubious origin can be melted down, making it impossible to identify its source.
To reduce this risk, Pandora uses a series of standards developed by the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) during its audits. The jewelry chain requires its suppliers to deliver RJC-certified recycled silver.
Pandora says it invests $10 million per year to achieve this transition.
Pandora declined to give details on this premium but assures that the additional cost will be absorbed by the group and not passed on to consumers.