Conservation and Circularity: Rolex’s Sustainability Impact

Rolex is a world-leading luxury watchmaker and manufacturer, notching US$10.58bn in global sales in 2024.

The company is known for inventing the first waterproof wristwatch – the Oyster – and manufacturers almost all of its components in house.

Adding to its accolades, Rolex was recently named 36th in Sustainability Magazine’s Top 250 World’s Most Sustainable Companies 2025.

Rolex’s sustainability targets

Rolex has set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, verified through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

It aims to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% and Scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to its 2021 baseline.

To achieve this, it is reducing the proportion of mined gold in its watches, switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, purchasing efficient machinery and optimising transport, mobility and packaging.

Most of Rolex’s direct emissions come from its production sites located in Switzerland, primarily generated by natural gas consumption.

Jean-Frédéric Dufour, CEO at Rolex, says: “Since its creation, Rolex has been driven by a passion: to design and manufacture watches that stand the test of time.

“The quest for quality and excellence – the foundation of our philosophy – has always required us to operate in a responsible and sustainable way.”

About the Perpetual Planet Initiative

In 2019, Rolex introduced its Perpetual Planet Initiative, with the aim of protecting the planet, perpetuating cultural heritage, promoting innovation and inspiring future generations.

The initiative covers Rolex’s support for projects dedicated to current environmental issues, including the poles, oceans, mountains and forests.

Its approach consists of three steps:

• Explore: to better understand the planet and the changes it is undergoing
• Act: to combat the dangers threatening nature, ecosystems, the climate and communities
• Inspire: to empower the next generations of explorers, scientists and environmentalists

The company builds partnerships with other businesses and organisations, providing them with financial support. For example, Rolex has worked with the National Geographic Society to launch a series of scientific studies covering the Amazon river basin.

Circularity: preserving raw materials

The sourcing of precious metals like gold, platinum, palladium and silver contribute to the large majority of Rolex’s emissions, accounting for 71% of its total carbon footprint in 2024.

Rolex ensures that materials can be traced along their entire life cycles, especially during processing stages. It has worked to enhance the traceability of its supply chains to increase transparency and quality and limit risks.

Rolex uses both mined gold – which is extracted from industrial and artisanal mines – and recycled gold retrieved from its own production waste and elsewhere in the watchmaking and electronics industries in its products.

The company has also been working on a new presentation box for the delivery of its watches to consumers. The new composition reduces the proportion of petroleum-based plastic from 92% to 6%, leading to a total reduction of 500 tonnes of plastic each year.

The redesigned box consists of mostly wood, cardboard and moulded cellulose. The introduction of the eco-friendly presentation box guarantees a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over its life cycle.

“Sustainability, which has always guided our processes and actions, is now gaining visibility and mobilising the entire company,” Jean-Frédéric says.

“We believe that quality and the constant pursuit of excellence are the best guarantees that we can give in terms of sustainability, because they are what drive us to constantly improve our social and environmental impact.”