De Beers Group steps up its fight against climate change

Founded in 1888, the De Beers Group is the world’s leading diamond company with expertise in diamond exploration, mining, and marketing.

De Beers announced on 22 April 2022 that it was investing $2 million in Kelp Blue to grow underwater Kelp forests off the coast of Namibia, which can potentially sequester CO2 “safely and permanently” and provide food for marine species, according to research.

“De Beers has communicated its commitment to protecting the natural world through its 2030 Building Forever sustainability goals, focusing on carbon neutrality, minimising its water footprint and delivering a net positive impact on biodiversity. These are one hundred per cent aligned to Kelp Blue’s core passion and purpose.” Daniel Hooft, Founder and CEO of Kelp Blue

The press release also highlights the fact that in addition to contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, which is to “take urgent action to address climate change and its impacts”, and to job creation in Namibia, this investment will support De Beers’ ambitious goal of being carbon neutral by 2030.

“To achieve this ambitious target, we will need to recover a share of our emissions after removing and replacing the majority of the fossil fuel energy in our business. Instead of simply purchasing carbon credits on the market, we are looking to identify potential long-term, sustainable and innovative nature-based solutions for this – particularly those that can deliver additional carbon capture benefit beyond our own business.” Neil Ventura, Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Innovation at De Beers Group.

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