Cut, clarity, carat, color: these are the qualities that bring value to a diamond. But in actuality, there is a fifth C: the Cost of lives.
For average consumers, this cost is polished away, hidden underneath the velvet lining of the box the gems come in. Today, however, a growing number of buyers are choosing alternative options — such as lab-grown gems — precisely because they do not want a symbol of love to be stained with blood.
Natural diamond mining remains concentrated in regions where labor protections are weak and oversight is limited, including parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Russia. In these areas, diamond extraction has repeatedly been linked to dangerous working conditions, exploitative wages, and human rights abuses. In Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond fields, for example, Human Rights Watch documented killings, beatings and forced labor carried out by security forces controlling diamond production, despite the industry’s claims of reform.
The U.S. State Department notes that forced labor and child labor continue to remain persistent concerns in mining sectors worldwide, particularly in relation to government-funded programs and affiliated sectors. This has been shown to be a recurring issue as reports on trafficking from the government have noted mining as a core area where it occurs for nearly ten years, with the earliest being in 2017.
The current primary safeguard in the diamond industry, the Kimberly Process, was established 2003 to prevent so-called “conflict diamonds,” that is, diamonds that are sold to finance rebel groups. This certification system, however, has many limitations. Its definition is very narrow causing it to exclude forced labor, child labor and other human rights abuses committed by sellers.
There have been many critics — such as Global Witness — of the Kimberly method due to the offer of reassurance to consumers despite ignoring the other injustices sprouting from these mines.
If the human cost was not enough, the environmental damage is also grave. Diamond mining requires extensive land excavation, often involving open-pit mines that permanently alter the land, disrupting water systems and displacing local communities. On average, about 200-250 tons of ore must be removed and processed to find even a single one-carat gem-quality diamond, not including the large amounts of unwanted material such as dirt and sand.
Lab-grown diamonds exist to solve these problems. Utilizing High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) or Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) methods, lab-grown diamonds are physically and chemically identical to natural ones — often being more pure and free of defects due to the controlled environment they are created in.
Their typically improved physical transparency is not the only place where lab-grown diamonds show clarity. Traditionally mined diamonds have been artificially inflated in their pricing. In the 1940s, De Beers’s famous “A Diamond Is Forever” advertisement campaign embedded diamonds into the American marriage culture while also controlling the supply to maintain high prices. Meanwhile, lab-grown diamonds are much cheaper — typically around 65-85% less than natural diamonds — as they tend to be not as strictly controlled and are relatively easier to get.
Critics of lab-grown diamonds often argue on their lack of resale potential, high energy use and the perception that the stones are just “fake” and lack any soul. However, these points are outdone by natural diamonds.
Most diamonds also have a lack of resale value — unless they are especially rare — due to their highly inflated cost so natural or man-made there is not much of an investment being made. The high energy use, while not good, still is much better than the environmental devastation caused by natural diamond mining and it can be improved as technology continues to evolve. What is no longer defensible is pretending that consumers have no alternative when an alternative clearly exists.
“I mean I prefer lab-grown diamonds since they’re less expensive, they can be more easily customized and don’t involve child labor! If I were to get married I would get a lab grown one,” senior Mia Hernandez said.
Lab-grown diamonds may not be perfect but they help to remove the most destructive aspects of the diamond supply chain. If love and commitment are the metrics, a lab-grown diamond can represent those just as faithfully — and do so without costing the Earth, literally and figuratively. A diamond may be forever but the harm it causes does not have to be.
