Highlights
- RJC marks its 15 year anniversary today with an event exploring the key themes of “Partnership for Progress” and “Continuous Improvement”
- Key speakers and panel participants include representatives from United Nations Global Compact, International Labour Organisation, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development and Human Rights Watch
- Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond will set out a clear pathway for the RJC and its members to realise the SDGs and measure progress
- Consultation period is open until 28 February 2021;
- Call to members to nominate candidates for the newly established SDG Taskforce
As the Responsible Jewellery Council celebrates its 15 year anniversary today with a virtual event that includes key global stakeholders, it also launches its Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond (“Roadmap”), and requests members to nominate candidates to join the SDG Taskforce.
Chairman David Bouffard commented: “15 years have passed since that historic moment in London when 14 organisations came around the table to establish a standards organisation for the whole jewellery and watch industry. Now with over 1300 members, we are forging confidently ahead on our journey of continuous improvement toward building an even stronger responsible supply chain that promotes greater trust in the global jewellery and watch industry.”
Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond
The Roadmap was established to support members and stakeholders to understand the RJC’s path to realise the SDGs, the most impactful contributions that members can make to align their operations and reporting to the SDGs, and to provide guidelines to achieve collective long term sustainability goals.
The Roadmap illustrates how the RJC’s strategies (Members First, Partnerships for Progress, Advocacy for Positive Change) relate to the UN’s five pillars of sustainable development (people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships), drive short and medium-term goals and longer-term impacts, and how they contribute to achieving the RJC’s priority SDGs, namely:
- SDG 5: Gender equality
- SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth
- SDG 12: Responsible consumptions and production
- SDG 13: Climate change
- SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
The RJC has also revised its performance monitoring framework, now linking to the priority SDGs and key provisions of the Code of Practices (COP) standard, to better demonstrate meaningful and measurable progress.
There will be a consultation process with members until 28 February 2021, with a final document expected toward the end of March 2021.
Iris van der Veken, Executive Director of the Responsible Jewellery Council said: “Sustainability is about bringing purpose and people to the next level and measuring progress and positive impact. That is why we have launched the Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond. It is a clear pathway for our members on what we, collectively, want to achieve and includes performance indicators to assess and measure progress, promote positive behavioural change, and to report performance more comprehensively. This coincides with the United Nation’s call for the ‘Decade of Action’.”
Nominations for the SDG Taskforce
Following the decision to establish an SDG Taskforce, the RJC is inviting members to nominate candidates by 22 January 2021. Members may submit their nomination via an online form, demonstrating how they meet the taskforce participant criteria. The RJC will also invite two external experts (NGO and academic) to join the taskforce. Nominations close on 5 February 2021.
Virtual Event to celebrate the 15 Year Anniversary of the RJC
The Responsible Jewellery Council today marks its 15th anniversary by bringing together leading organisations from around the world, including CIBJO, ISEAL, The World Diamond Council, RMI, IRMA, The Plumb Club, The World Gold Council and GIT. These organisations will be part of the first panel discussion to discuss Partnerships for Progress. The second panel will include the United Nations Global Compact, ILO Human Rights Watch, Kian Smith &Trade Co, Pandora and Pranda Jewelry where the critical topic of Decent Labour will be explored.
The sessions will explore ways in which the industry can build back better through a partnership and continuous improvement model to deliver real positive impacts on the ground and discuss the Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond.
