Time For Change

It’s time to look at luxury watch brands driving change towards sustainability, conservation and humanitarian efforts to make the world a better place. Kiran Pillay highlights the leading programmes.

- Kiran Pillay

THE PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE

Launched in 2019, Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative supports individuals and organisations using science to understand global environmental challenges and plan viable solutions to restore balance to our ecosystems.

Currently, the initiative embraces Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue initiative, founded in 2009 to preserve the oceans through a network of marine-protected Hope Spots. These are areas designated as vital to the preservation of species. The sites may be significant for their biodiversity, home to rare or endangered species, or be sites where local communities rely on a healthy marine environment for their livelihoods.

With the support of Rolex since 2014, the number of Hope Spots has increased from 50 to over 130. Earle contributes to a global effort aiming to protect 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030. Presently, only 8 per cent of our oceans are conserved.

Since 2017, Rolex has also enhanced its long-standing partnership with the National Geographic Society to promote exploration and conservation. The two organizations unite in engaging in a series of expeditions focused on answering crucial questions about the impacts of climate change on critical environments.