Aether Diamonds, a startup that was founded in 2018 by Ryan Shearman and Daniel Wojno, pulls the greenhouse-gas carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to create sustainable lab-grown diamonds. The company now announced that it has earned its B Corp certification with a top-ranking impact score of 96.5.
Many brands that provide lab-grown diamonds still rely on fossil fuels for their production process. Aether Diamonds, however, are the world’s first and only carbon-negative diamonds that are also certified vegan, according to the company.
First, direct air capture technology is used to extract carbon dioxide from the air that would otherwise contribute to climate change. The captured CO2 is then synthesized into the hydrocarbon raw material required for growing diamonds in chemical vapor deposition reactors that are powered by 100% clean energy. Over the next few weeks, the diamond crystals grow, and once fully formed, they are then sent to the expert craftspeople to cut, polish, and set them into your next piece of jewelry.
The company also commits to removing 20 metric tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere for every carat sold, effectively offsetting the average American customer’s carbon footprint by 1.25 years.
With its B Corp certification, Aether is actively building a future in which they generate their own renewable energy sources and return excess clean power to the grid. The company started shipping its first diamonds to customers in the middle of 2021. Last year, it produced hundreds of carats of diamonds and planned to produce thousands in 2022. It is committed to becoming independently carbon-negative by 2023.
