The Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030 (WJI2030), the new industry sustainability group, has signed up some prominent new members who will try to attain the group’s ambitious goals.
The initiative was founded in 2021, spearheaded by the CEOs of Kering and Cartier.
New company members include Dimexon, Mattioli, Pandora, Rubel & Ménasché, as well as Richemont brands A. Lange & Söhne, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, and Piaget have also joined the initiative. (While Richemont-owned Cartier is a founding member, all Richemont brands are managed separately. Another Richemont jewelry brand, Van Cleef & Arpels, has not come on board.)
CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, and French jewelry association UFBJOP also announced they will enter into a “strategic collaboration” with WJI2030.
Watch & Jewellery Initiative executive director and general secretary Iris Van der Veken tells JCK she is setting up a “robust governance structure” for the group and is currently in talks with stakeholders, including nongovernment organizations (NGOs).
Van der Veken, who formerly led the Responsible Jewellery Council, says the new organization is complimentary to her old one.
“We are not a standards body,” she says. “We are all about impact.”
Guided by the United Nations’ 17 sustainability goals, WJI2030 commits members to accelerate their positive impact in three main areas: climate resilience, preserving resources, and fostering inclusiveness.
Still, the group’s goals won’t be easy to achieve, she admits.
“There is going to be a learning curve for all of us,” she says. “But the time is now. We need more bold partnerships.
“We are in a historic moment, and I mean that on a planetary scale. The stakes involved for our people and their livelihoods, the ecosystems that sustain us as a species…have never been greater.
“Business as usual is not an option,” she adds. “Sustainability is not about competition. We only have one planet.”
Previously announced brands in the WJI2030 include Swarovski, Chanel Horlogerie Joaillerie, Montblanc, Rosy Blue, and the jewelry and watch brands owned by Kering (Boucheron, Gucci Watches, Pomellato, Dodo, and Qeelin).
Top: A Watch & Jewellery Initiative discussion at the Watch Forum 2022. From left: Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, president, international, The New York Times; Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer of Kering; and Cyrille Vigneron, president and CEO of Cartier (photo: Remy Steiner for Richemont; courtesy of Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030).
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