We’re not sure nowadays how accurate this claim is, if we take into account thee fact that we are more environment counscious and extracting diamonds is not really a responsible activity, either to the humans involved in the work, nor to the environment.

On average, for every one carat that is mined from the ground, up to 250 tons of earth are removed, 480 liters of freshwater are used, thousand of liters of water are contaminated with acid mine runoff, 64 kgs of air pollution are emitted.

Aether, an american startup based in New York, plans to reacquaint ladies with the diamonds that it produces in a sustainable way, by extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The company, founded in 2018 by Ryan Shearman, Daniel Wojno and RobertHagemann, was the first to use atmospheric carbon to create its sustainable diamonds. Each carat sold equals 20 metric tons of CO2 taken from the atmosphere.

Aether received a Series A investment of 18 million dollars and the the beginning of February 2022 added certified B Corp status, getting validation for how groundbreaking and impactful Aether’s technology is.

According to Aether’s website, for producing the diamonds, Direct air capture technology is used to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, setting our proprietary diamond production process into beautiful motion.

Then, the captured CO2 is then synthesized into the hydrocarbon feedstock required for growing diamonds in a chemical vapor deposition reactor. Regular lab-grown diamonds use fossil fuels that are extracted from the ground.

The hydrocarbon raw material is fed into specialized chemical vapor deposition reactors that are powered by 100% clean energy. Over the next few weeks, diamond crystals grow. Once the diamond crystals are fully formed, they are then sent to expert craftspeople to cut, polish, and set them into a piece of jewelry.

Photo: Joshua Kissi for Aether