Responsible Supply Chains 3. Workshop “Responsible Gold in Germany”

Sustainable consumption plays an important role for more and more consumers. This is especially true for jewelry. Especially in the case of marriage and engagement rings, there is a high emotional bond to the product. Increasingly, consumers want to be assured that their jewelry was produced under fair and sustainable conditions. Therefore, it is important for companies to make their supply chains transparent and to conduct their due diligence in order to deal responsibly with risks of human rights violations or environmental damage.

With the aim of strengthening and implementing these approaches in Germany, the sector program “Extractives & Development” organized the workshop “Responsible Gold in Germany” for the third time. 19 participants from civil society, academia and the industry (especially the jewelry sector) discussed solutions for supply chains of responsible gold from small-scale mining in developing countries at the BGR in Hanover.

The aim of this workshop was to exchange experiences from individual project activities and to shape the role of the workshop as a forum for discussion and the contributions of the participating actors in the long term.

In addition, the workshop included interesting lectures on the following topics:

• “Beni Gold” - Responsible ASGM in Ethiopia (Markus Körner, Beni Gold)
• “Alluvial Gold Mining in Peru” - Ecological and social challenges for the ASGM sector in Peru (Frankfurt Zoological Society (External link))
• “Responsible Gold Supply Chains in the DR Congo” (Ulrike von Baggehufwudt, BGR (External link))
• “Responsible amalgamation in ASGM” (Dr. Jürgen Vasters, BGR (External link))

Furthermore, there was a discussion on the role of Fairtrade International (“Fairtrade Gold (External link)”) and its potential within the German gold market. The participants highlighted the important role of Fairtrade in the public image - the standard is known to many consumers as it is applied to a variety of products ranging from flowers to coffee. To increase awareness of responsible gold, the visibility of Fairtrade should be used more effectively in the future. From the participants' point of view, this would make strengthen the potential of responsible gold in the German market.

The participants' interest in continuing the exchange format and further intensifying cooperation is high, as a result future workshops will take place every six months.

For further information please contact Nataly Jürges (External link).