The Reason More People Are Wearing Lab-Grown Diamonds Like Meghan Markle's

For every single diamond carat, an estimated 250 tons of earth has to shift. For context, 142 million carats were mined in 2019 alone, creating holes so big, they can be seen from space. Not to mention, mining causes a lot of pollution. "An alarming amount of pollution and irreversible damage is done during and after a mine is opened," Jogia says, citing unsafe working conditions, soil erosion, and degradation.

With mined diamonds, it's difficult to know exactly where your diamond came from or to ensure no harm occurred in the process of creating it. Some jewelry brands have launched end-to-end traceability platforms, but lab-grown diamonds generally have fewer channels to go through on its journey from the lab to jeweler to customer.