Responsible Jewellery Council
Responsible Jewellery Council
(
Non-governmental organization (NGO)
)
#SDGAction56888
Description
The Responsible Jewellery Council is the world’s leading standard-setting organisation for the jewellery and watch industry. Founded in 2005 by 14 member organisations (ABN AMRO, BHP Billiton Diamonds, Cartier, World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), Diamond Trading Company (part of De Beers Group), Diarough, Jewelers of America, National Association of Goldsmiths (UK), Newmont Mining, Rio Tinto, Rosy Blue, Signet Group, Tiffany & Co., and Zale Corporation). We bring together over 1900 companies of all sizes, across the global watch and jewellery supply chain, from mining to retail. What unites us is our shared belief that responsible business, without causing harm to people or the planet, can only be achieved by working together, in partnership with others. In 2011 we became ISEAL Code Compliant, meaning that our sustainability system is independently evaluated against ISEAL’s Code of Good Practice – a globally-recognised framework for effective, credible sustainability systems. Our core standard, the Code of Practices (COP) is a common standard for the industry, and mandatory for all commercial members. It requires the implementation of management systems to manage key ethical, social, human rights and environmental risks. The COP aims to align with the prevailing global framework for social inclusion, environmental sustainability and economic development: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The COP and the SDGs are aligned in many ways and implementing the COP can have a positive impact on several individual SDGs. For example, addressing forced labour in supply chains (COP 20) will help promote decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). Similarly, reducing greenhouse gases (COP 26) will help advance SDG 13 on climate action. All RJC members are encouraged to review their business activities against the SDGs and take steps to incorporate SDGs into their strategic goals and company policies. Becoming COP certified is a starting point for our members, and we encourage them to go beyond this towards generating positive impact. We devised our Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond to guide and inspire RJC members to work together with the wider industry to scale ambition on priority SDGs. It proposes a framework for our industry with respect to the most impactful contributions we can make through our supply chains and provides attainable pathways to help us, and our members realise our collective ambitions.
As previously mentioned, the Code of Practice is our core standard which is compulsory for all commercial members. In addition to this, our Chain of Custody (COC) Standard, defines the requirements for creating a chain of custody of precious metals that are responsibly produced, processed and traded through jewellery supply chains. This standard is voluntary and complements certification against the COP. The RJC team is responsible for maintaining and managing the standards. We have a list of approved auditors who we ensure effectively assess and confirm compliance with these standards. Once the necessary due diligence is satisfactorily completed, certificates are issued to our members. The Assurance Department exists to ensure a credible and quality audit, conducted by objective and competent RJC approved auditors. A robust audit process supports members to implement and maintain the RJC’s Code of Practices and Chain of Custody, as a pathway for companies to address sustainability best practices, responsible sourcing, and supply chain due diligence.
Education has always been an essential part of the Responsible Jewellery Council. From hosting webinars for our members and stakeholders to offering toolkits on implementing a wide range of practices and frameworks, education remains critical in building a more sustainable watch and jewellery industry. Recognising this, at the beginning of 2024, we established our new Knowledge Department. In addition to the webinars and training facilitated by the Knowledge Department, RJC publishes an annual progress report. Our annual reports renew our commitment to being a transparent and accountable organisation and are an opportunity for us to share the challenges to our industry and progress being made by both the RJC and our members.
The RJC is governed by a Board of Directors and an Executive Committee. The day-to-day management is delegated to a Senior Management Team lead by our Executive Director, Melanie Grant. Our governance structure is outlined in more detail in the Governance Handbook.
Our standards are a foundation for positive change and responsible supply chains that promote trust and confidence in the watch & jewellery industry. We follow the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice for all bodies that set standards to make sure we have a robust, transparent process in place. The ISEAL Standards Setting Code defines how a standard should be developed, structured and revised. It requires multi-stakeholder consultation and decision-making and ensures clear and auditable conditions in the standard itself. The standard-setting process also requires the inclusion of non-industry members, this enables us to improve the rigour, effectiveness and value of our standards to our members. Our priorities are to include all the parties that might be affected by a standard in the process, and to create tools with criteria that are both strict and realistic. We conduct open formal comment periods of our standards and operate the Standards Committee as part of our RJC Governance Framework. We go beyond these standards as the voice for the industry on its most critical Environmental, Social and Governance issues, helping to accelerate collective progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals via our additional initiatives.
The Roadmap to 2030 is our theory of change, which outlines how our members can go beyond our standards to deliver further positive and sustainable impact. As part of the development of the roadmap, RJC completed an SDG mapping and materiality assessment based on our COP. As a result of this mapping, 6 priority SDGs for RJC and our members were identified as:
• SDG 5 Gender Equality
• SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
• SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
• SDG 13 Climate Change
• SDG 16 Peace, Justic and Strong Institutions
• SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals
To enable us to demonstrate measurable progress and impact, we devised a set of metrics linked to these priority SDGs and key provisions of our COP standard. Further, alongside these voluntary metrics, the roadmap outlines a set of actions that members can take to achieve impact against each of the priority SDGs. As these priority SDGs also represent the desired long-term impacts of the RJC, we have developed a research schedule aligned to the priority SDGs. The research agenda, once complete, will provide insight into the effectiveness of our strategies and help to drive continuous improvement. As of Q4 2024, we have completed our research project on SDG 5 Gender Equality and are currently working on our research project on SDG 13 Climate Action. RJC seeks to participate in transformative partnerships that are shaped by shared purpose. We have a working group named the SDG Taskforce which is an action platform for the watch and jewellery industry to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 agenda. The taskforce consists of representatives of the entire watch and jewellery supply chain and functions as a think-tank for new and collaborative projects on the SDGs. Monitoring and Evaluation is another important component of the ISEAL Code. To understand the effectiveness and the impact of our work within the jewellery supply chain, we have established a monitoring and evaluation system. Performance monitoring is a key component of our M&E system. It focuses on systematic collection and analysis of data from members throughout their certification journey, to evaluate whether the desired outcomes outlined in the Theory of Change are being achieved. Periodically we undertake in-depth evaluations, often in collaboration with strategic partners, to provide a deeper and/or broader perspective of our impact and progress. For full transparency of results, we commit to publishing the full evaluation report once the research project has concluded.
We have an extensive membership, consisting of over 1900 brands across the watch and jewellery supply chain, from mine to retail. The RJC is an active participant in various industry associations through which we engage with policy makers to contribute to a better understanding of industry-related challenges. These associations are also important platforms for the RJC to contribute to broader, industry-wide action on sustainable development. A list of all our key partnerships can be found here. We are also a participant of the United Nations Global Compact, committing to voluntary disclosure in a bid to lead by example and to represent the watch and jewellery industry on a global platform. Participation has enabled RJC to receive insights on best practice, identify data gaps, and access key resources relating to human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. The RJC is also a full member of the ISEAL Alliance, which is the global hub for sustainability standards. The provides confidence in the RJC standards as we are the only ISEAL full member for sustainable standards and practices in the jewellery industry.
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Entity
Region
- Global
Geographical coverage
Other beneficiaries
Over 1900 members across the watch and jewellery industry, and their employees and stakeholders
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Countries
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Contact Information
Elyssa Jenkins-Pérez, Mrs