De Beers cuts Scope 1 and 2 emissions 14% since 2021
The 2025 report books US$70m committed to Botswana's Diamonds for Development Fund and 375,000 acres under conservation management. Five million rough stones have now been scanned on Tracr.
By The Diamonds Desk
What changed
De Beers scored itself. The 2025 Sustainability Report, published 22 September, puts the group's Scope 1 and 2 emissions 14% below their 2021 level. It books US$70m committed to a Botswana development fund.
What it means
- If you buy rough: Tracr has now passed five million individually scanned stones, and that is the number to put to a supplier rather than the emissions line.
- If you sell provenance at the counter: The Angola wetland designation and the Okavango water share are the two specific, externally checkable claims in this report.
- What this is not: An audited financial disclosure. Every figure here is the company reporting on its own performance against targets it set.
Key figures
| Scope 1 and 2 emissions, against 2021against a stated target of one third by 2030 | 14% |
|---|---|
| Committed to Botswana's development fund | US$70m |
| Managed for conservation | 375,000 acres |
| Rough stones scanned on Tracr | 5,000,000 |
Source: De Beers Group's own announcement of its 2025 Sustainability Report, published 22 September 2026, fetched 23 September 2026
Climate is 42% of the way
Fourteen per cent down. The group reports Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions 14% below their 2021 level. Its science-based target is to cut the footprint by one third by 2030.
Four years to run. A 14% cut is 42% of a 33.3% target, reached at roughly the five-year mark of a nine-year run. The announcement gives no interim milestone.
| Measure | 2025 reading | Stated target | Target year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 and 2 emissions | 14% below 2021 | one third below base | 2030 |
| Offsite jobs per onsite job | 2.6 | 4 | 2030 |
| Land managed for conservation | 375,000 acres | none stated | — |
| Rough stones scanned on Tracr | 5,000,000 passed | none stated | — |
| Women trained through EntreprenHER | 3,900 since 2016 | none stated | — |
| Total recordable injury frequency | 19% below 2024 | none stated | — |
| Committed to Diamonds for Development | US$70m | none stated | — |
Notes on this table
Two of seven rows carry a dated target and five do not. Only the emissions line and the jobs ratio can be marked against a company commitment; the rest are levels with no published destination, which makes them reportable but not gradeable.
The climate line is 42% of the way. A 14% cut against a one-third target is 14 divided by 33.3, or 42% of the distance, with four years of the nine-year run left.
Every figure is self-reported. The announcement names no assurance provider for any of these numbers and no third-party verification was read here.
Angola gets a Ramsar wetland
A first for Angola. De Beers says it supported the designation of Angola's first Ramsar wetland, protecting the source of 95% of the water flowing into the Okavango Delta.
Through a media partnership. The work is credited to Okavango Eternal, its partnership with National Geographic. The group also reports 375,000 acres managed for conservation across Southern Africa.
Tracr passes five million stones
Five million scanned. The group says it has passed five million rough diamonds individually scanned on Tracr, its provenance platform. That is the figure a buyer can test at the point of purchase.
Jobs ratio at 2.6. It reports 2.6 offsite jobs supported for every onsite role, against an ambition of four by 2030.
Safest year recorded. Injury frequency ran 19% below 2024 and the group reports no work-related deaths.
Botswana gets US$70m. The group has committed US$70m to Botswana's Diamonds for Development Fund. Al Cook, its chief executive, says natural diamonds “can do more than sparkle”.
What to watch
- February 2027De Beers' full-year results, where the US$70m Botswana commitment should begin appearing as spend rather than as a pledge.
- During 2027Whether the Diamonds for Development Fund publishes allocations under its announced chairperson, Akinwumi Adesina.
- 2030The one-third emissions target and the four-offsite-jobs ratio, the only two dated commitments in this report.
The story so far
Go deeper
What would change this call
An assurance statement, or a restated base year. A 14% cut is measured against a 2021 baseline the company set; a restated baseline, or an external assurance opinion qualifying the number, would change what this figure means.
What Scope 1 and 2 leaves out, and why that matters for a diamond
Scope 1 is what a company burns itself: haul truck diesel, process heat, the mine's own plant. Scope 2 is the electricity it buys. Together they are the emissions a miner controls directly, which is precisely why they are the ones it targets first and reports most confidently. What sits outside them is Scope 3, the emissions of everyone else in the chain: the cutting factory, the polishing house, the freight, the retailer's lighting, and the customer's flight to the counter. For a product whose weight is measured in fractions of a gram and whose value is created almost entirely after it leaves the pit, Scope 3 is where most of the carbon lives. A 14% cut in Scope 1 and 2 is a real operating achievement and it is not the same claim as a 14% cut in the carbon of a diamond. The report's own framing does not conflate the two; a retailer repeating the number at a counter easily could.
Method
Every figure in this article was read directly from De Beers Group's own announcement page, fetched on 23 September 2026 and dated 22 Sep 2026 on the page itself, with the text extracted from the raw bytes rather than through a summariser. That page carries, in its own bulleted list of 2025 achievements: Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions reduced by 14% since 2021 and a science-based target to cut the carbon footprint by one third by 2030; 2.6 offsite jobs supported for every onsite job against an ambition of four by 2030; 375,000 acres managed for conservation across Southern Africa; support for the designation of Angola's first Ramsar wetland, protecting the source of 95% of the water flowing into the Okavango Delta through the Okavango Eternal partnership with National Geographic; the safest year in the group's history, with a 19% reduction in total recordable injury frequency rate against 2024 and zero work-related fatalities; more than five million rough diamonds individually scanned on Tracr; a further 500 women trained through EntreprenHER, taking the total beyond 3,900 since 2016; and US$70 million committed to the Diamonds for Development Fund in Botswana. The quoted six words are Al Cook's, from the statement on that same page. The 42% arithmetic is this desk's own and is shown: 14 divided by 33.3 is 0.42. JCK's editorial feed was fetched separately and its raw XML carries an item titled 'De Beers Highlights Gains in Sustainability, Traceability' with a pubDate of Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:45:55 +0000, which confirms the same-day trade pickup; that article was not opened and no figure here comes from it. The Sustainability Report itself was not downloaded, so nothing is cited from the document beyond what the announcement page states. Archive check against content/articles.json, one term per grep: 'Building Forever' returns 0, 'Ramsar' returns 0, 'Tracr' returns 0, 'EntreprenHER' returns 0. New to this paper.