The gold industry must clean up its act or risk losing new customers after a new YouGov poll for CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, has found that consumers are now keener than ever to ensure that the gold jewellery products available from catalogues and high street stores have been ethically sourced.
According to the YouGov poll, the consumer shift towards ethical products is now extending to the gold jewellery industry with more than one in four people, or 28 per cent of those polled, claiming they would buy Fairtrade gold on sale, even if it meant paying more.
The findings are particularly pertinent in the run up to Christmas when British consumers are expected to buy a massive six million items of gold.
A considerable one in three people surveyed, or 35 per cent, also agreed that they would choose to shop at stores that were concerned about how their gold is produced.
Sonya Maldar, CAFOD's extractives analyst, said: "The poll results send a clear message to jewellery retailers that they can't afford to ignore their customers' wishes for clean gold.
"It's now up to the retailers to work within the industry to ensure that the gold they sell is produced without harming people and devastating the environment."
Research undertaken by CAFOD has revealed that gold mining all too often causes substantial damage to the surrounding population and environment, often playing a major role in social conflict.
Communities in Honduras have seen their water supplies become contaminated with cyanide and arsenic as a result of gold mining.
In DR Congo meanwhile, a massive 1,200 people die every day as a result of conflict-related disease, hunger and violence, in places where war has been fuelled by the struggle for gold and other minerals, CAFOD reports.
The Catholic developmental agency criticised gold mining companies for failing to consult local communities about their future plans which it said risks inflaming social tensions and causing further conflict.
But UK consumers are all too often unaware of these problems, CAFOD warned. Half the population (49%) claim they hadn't really thought about where the gold in their jewellery comes from.
Two out of three people (65%), meanwhile, said that gold mining companies should be responsible for limiting any environmental damage caused by their operations.
CAFOD has launched the Unearth Justice campaign to highlight the huge social and environmental costs of gold mining with the call going out to the mining companies and UK jewellers to clean up the industry.
A massive 80 per cent of gold mined each year ends up in jewellery. Now CAFOD believes that retailers can play a key role in raising standards within the industry. As a first step towards this, jewellery retailers and mining companies are being urged to adopt an industry standard based on the No Dirty Gold campaign's "Golden Rules". These include respect for human rights and free, prior and informed consent for affected communities.
So far only a small number of UK retailers have formally signed up to the Golden Rules.
Maldar said: "Consumers are now increasingly savvy when it comes to ethical standards, which is why companies need to show they are serious about change.
"We hope that the UK's leading jewellery retailers will not only sign up to the Golden Rules but work actively with their suppliers and mining companies to set new and robust standards for the gold industry.
"Growing understanding of these issues means it's in their best interests to take action now."
