Having worked at the intersection of sustainable development, international diplomacy, responsible business and social entrepreneurship, Aurelia Figueroa brings a distinctive perspective on how sustainability can move from obligation to value creation. Her work connects policy, business, systems thinking and storytelling, with a focus on making sustainability something people can understand, care about and act on. In this conversation, she discusses why responsible business must go beyond compliance, how luxury can reconnect consumers with materials, craftsmanship and nature, and why traceability, integrity and shared value are central to the future of gold.
Your career spans luxury, international policy, responsible business and systems leadership. Which experiences have most shaped the way you think about the relationship between business, nature, society and long-term value creation?
It is a great question to begin with. If I had to call out one aspect of my career that has most shaped the way I think, it would be my work in economic development, and more broadly, the systemic perspective that has come with it.
This includes the work I have done across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, where I have spent time in communities sometimes referred to as “host communities”, where the real impacts of sourcing take place, from both an environmental and a social perspective.
This experience is also very much mirrored in my own personal story. I grew up in a host mining community in southeastern Arizona, and I saw first-hand what the impacts could be from an environmental and social perspective, and how they directly impacted Nature and the people that I know and love. That experience has really shaped my desire to be part of positive transformation in global supply chains.
More broadly, it is my cross-sectoral and systemic experience that has been so important to shaping my perspective and my purpose: being able to see the interface between public policy, the private sector, diplomacy and NGOs, which I have each had the chance to work with extensively. Based on this diversity of experience, I am able to deeply appreciate and anticipate first-hand what impacts can be created along the way, and how we can all work together to address them, while generating substantial shared value for all involved.
Having worked at the intersection of sustainability and luxury watchmaking for many years, how have you seen the role of sustainability evolve within the sector, beyond compliance and risk management, towards something more aspirational, emotional and culturally meaningful?
My experience at the intersection of luxury and sustainability started in 2016, when I had the opportunity to work with IWC Schaffhausen, as well as with the other heritage watch brands of Richemont. Fast forward to today, ten years later, and with the experience I have also been able to gain at Breitling, I am very happy to reflect on the fact that advancement in this space has been meaningful.
In 2016, at least in the area in which I was working, the sector was still largely characterised by what I would call the corporate social responsibility paradigm. There was some value in that, and it was probably a necessary step in order for the industry to scale up. But it was not yet focused on transformational effects. It was focused primarily on reporting, compliance and philanthropy, among others.
At that stage, deeper questions were not necessarily being asked, such as: what is our impact, and what can we truly do that would be transformational in order to change it?
Today, when brands choose to lean into this, and when they choose to understand more deeply how they impact society, and how they themselves are impacted by the numerous global challenges we face, there is a real opportunity to create value. There is an opportunity to build brand equity, to benefit local communities across the supply chain, and to build supply chain resilience, which is one of the most critical topics in the insecure and uncertain world in which we are living today and ensuring near and long-term competitiveness.
Do you think consumers and clients truly appreciate that shift? When someone walks into a boutique and chooses a watch, does traceability, responsibility or the sourcing story behind the object really speak to them today?
To be totally honest, I think that very often the question is still not being asked. And I believe that is not because people do not care. I believe it is because it does not necessarily come to mind, particularly in luxury environments where a big assumption is often made that everything has been made in a fully responsible manner. Unfortunately, as numerous scandals across the luxury industry lay bare, this is sadly not the case.
More broadly speaking, we are fortunately living in a time where people do care. If someone is buying a banana or a bar of chocolate, they may stop and ask: is it fair trade, is it organic, which country did it come from? They may be buying a one-euro banana or a five-euro chocolate bar, and still take 30 seconds to think about it.
That same consumer, who cares and is willing to stop and learn, may then walk into a luxury setting and assume that, because the product is luxurious, it must have been produced in the most responsible possible manner. They may feel they do not need to ask any questions, although their desire to purchase a product that has been made with responsibility and positive impact is present. And it is exactly that opportunity which brands can choose to seize to build deeper relationships of meaning and impact all along the supply chain.
I have had discussions with sustainability professionals, people who have worked their entire lives in sustainability, and I have asked them: if you have gold on you right now (noting that if you have a mobile phone with you, then you do have gold on you), do you know the source of that gold? In 99% of cases, the response has been a dropped jaw and: No, I do not, and to be honest, I never considered it, even though this is the field I work in.
Again, that is not because of a lack of care. It is a lack of awareness and attunement to the full scope of our impacts. As humans, we tend to care very directly about things we put into our bodies, such as food. The next category might be cosmetics, because we put them on our skin. That same consumer who cares about a banana, a chocolate bar or a face cream may not yet be asking the same questions when buying apparel or accessories, even though the commitment to sustainable consumerism may very well be present.
To me, this indicates that there is a responsibility on brands, and also on other representatives in society, especially the media, to raise the spotlight and encourage us to ask questions.
A highly impactful example is diamonds. In my opinion, the release of the film Blood Diamond in 2006 contributed, among other factors, to the creation and ongoing success of the lab-grown diamond industry. It was not immediate, of course. It took time. The industry had to build up and establish legitimacy. But today, in the United States, the majority of people intending to buy an engagement ring are choosing lab-grown diamonds.There are many reasons for that, and I would not reduce it exclusively to sustainability, but it is a key factor. So when we are able to raise awareness in such a meaningful and emotional way, it can shift societal and consumer perceptions, and disrupt long-standing industries to the core.
A key question I have is: what would be the impact if there were an equivalent of Blood Diamond for gold? How would that shift societal and consumer perceptions of gold?
So while the awareness is not fully there yet, I believe the care absolutely is. And I would highlight the role that we all have the opportunity to play in contributing to greater awareness on this topic, which is also what Gold Network is contributing to, among other things.
What role can luxury brands play in helping consumers reconnect with craftsmanship, longevity, nature and more conscious patterns of consumption?
I think this is an extraordinary opportunity, and a very strong antidote to the world in which we are living today, which is increasingly moving to automation. I believe that leaning into human craft, the human touch and artisanship is a real strength that the luxury industry can build upon. It connects us to artistry, which is one of our greatest capabilities as humans.
Luxury brands have a strong opportunity to lean into that storytelling, and then to enrich it by connecting the consumer with the materials that are in their products, whether that is fine textiles, gold, mined diamonds, lab-grown diamonds or other fine materials. Being able to facilitate that connection can bring meaning and depth, and I think that is something the modern consumer is truly craving.
As the industry seeks to reduce its reliance on newly mined materials, what role can secondary gold play in advancing a more circular and responsible precious metals ecosystem? What must happen next to strengthen its traceability, integrity and acceptance across luxury supply chains?
Secondary gold, above-ground gold and reprocessed gold are absolutely key to embracing and bringing to life circular economy principles. Given the value of gold, this is also something that tends to happen naturally.
However, one key point, particularly when we speak about integrity, is the use of the term “recycled”. According to the Federal Trade Commission in the United States, something can only be referred to as recycled if it has been diverted from a waste stream. With some exceptions, especially in electronic waste, that is not usually the case for gold.Given its value, gold is something that is going to be reprocessed. So it is very important that the entities ultimately responsible for marketing gold are careful with the term “recycled”.
Anecdotally, four years ago I used to see the term “recycled gold” everywhere. I notice that I do not see it quite so much anymore, reflecting the awareness of brands around proper nomenclature and related regulations. This is a positive development to support forthrightness in communications.
That is very helpful, because “recycled” is a highly powerful term in marketing. It is one of the most valuable terms that can be used. If it is used irresponsibly, it allows brands to accrue benefits without necessarily having had an impact, which I would say could be termed greenwashing.
It is therefore important to have a constructive discussion on gold overall and gold sourcing. For sure, secondary gold will continue to be key and needs to be part of the solution.
To return to integrity and traceability, what is most important, especially for refiners and those buying gold, is that proper due diligence measures are taken to ensure that social harms such as money laundering and corruption are not given a path to function.
Among responsible actors in the space, there is strong awareness that this needs to be a key focus for due diligence, in order to ensure integrity along the way.
Drawing on your experience in strategy, governance and responsible sourcing, what do you believe truly distinguishes a responsible luxury brand today?
What truly distinguishes a responsible luxury brand today is that it has intentionally considered the full scope of its impacts at every corner of the supply chain and is actively and urgently working across this scope to realize positive impacts for Nature and for communities globally, and locally.
As both a consumer and a sustainability professional, I believe that if something is truly to be luxurious, it should not have a negative impact on the environment or on communities. Quite the contrary: it should contribute to addressing some of the biggest challenges and opportunities the world faces today, including nature regeneration and income inequality.
If luxury can be part of the solution in addressing these issues, then this directly adds value to the product, to the brand, to the consumer and to everyone involved along the way.
I think luxury has an important role to play in leading the way in helping us understand how we redefine business today, and how we create the products of tomorrow in a way that addresses the global challenges we collectively face.
