Melanie Grant, known in the jewelry world as a journalist, author and curator, is adding a management role to that list. Beginning on Monday, she will serve as the executive director of the Responsible Jewellery Council (R.J.C.), the London-based group that describes itself as the “world’s leading sustainability standard-setting organization.”

Founded in 2005 by 14 of the most influential names in the watch and jewelry industries, including Cartier, Tiffany & Company and the mining giant Rio Tinto, the council was formed with an ambitious directive. The R.J.C. aimed to create a “global standards body overseeing, auditing and protecting all aspects of supply chain business practices from mine to retailer, and ultimately protecting consumer confidence,” David Bouffard, the organization’s chair and a Signet Jewelers vice president, wrote in an email.

The council has almost 1,700 members in 71 countries; the majority of those members have what is called “certified status,” which requires a third-party audit to confirm they meet the organization’s ethical standards.

Ms. Grant, 49, comes to the executive director post with a background in photography, art direction and journalism, having worked for publications such as The Financial Times, The Guardian and the BBC. Most recently, she worked at The Economist, which she joined as a researcher 16 years ago. When she left in December, she was overseeing its luxury stories and photography, along with the news and feature photography, while also handling reporting duties.

She is known in the jewelry world for writing “Coveted: Art and Innovation in High Jewelry,” published by Phaidon in 2020, and for collaborating with Sotheby’s in 2021 on “Brilliant and Black: A Jewelry Renaissance,” an exhibition featuring 21 Black jewelry designers that Sotheby’s described as the first of its kind by a major auction house. A second event followed in September 2022.

Despite her achievements, Ms. Grant acknowledged that she was not the obvious choice for a position that concerns policy, raw materials and manufacturing. “I was definitely a wild card candidate,” she said during a phone interview, but added that she views the role as an extension of her creative life and fascination with the category. “In the interview, someone asked me, ‘You’re a writer, why would you want to do this job?’ For me, it’s another way to love jewelry.”

Addressing questions of environmental responsibility is one way she wants to put that love into action. “The sustainability of jewelry is the biggest single issue we’re looking at as an industry,” she said. “One of the reasons I’m excited is because I want to know what I can do.” Part of her objective is to “simplify” the process of adopting environmentally conscious practices to make those practices “accessible to more people.”

Initially, she will be working on developing new guidelines for lab-grown materials, and tackling “an ambitious international project in the pipeline for this summer,” Mr. Bouffard wrote.

Ms. Grant said that, to facilitate her work, she planned to learn the technical side of the business, including mining and gem cutting. “I’m hoping for a bit of immersion,” she said. “I want people on the ground to tell me what it really is.” And, she said, continuing to promote diversity will be a priority because it is important to support “women, Black and brown people, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, people who don’t have the background, the connections, the family influence.”

While the council’s best-known members are major brands and businesses, Ms. Grant said independent jewelers might hear from her about joining the council to help combat issues like pollution and climate change. “Even if you’re an artist in a cave, crafting something in seclusion, eventually they’re going to affect you,” she said, referring to those global challenges. “There are practical things we can do as an organization to help people look at their practice and how they can contribute.”

She said she did plan to be realistic about her expectations: “It’s not a fast-moving industry. It’s old but it’s not fast. The challenge is navigating all the opinions and the views with the reality of what’s possible.”

Over time, the council, like other industry players espousing sustainability standards, has faced critics who accused it of greenwashing and setting lenient standards. Last year, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many of the R.J.C.’s own members were displeased the council did not expel the diamond giant Alrosa, which is owned partly by the Russian government. That inaction led to the departure of some high-profile members, including Richemont, the owner of brands such as Cartier, and Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry company by volume.

In April 2022, the R.J.C. board voted to accept Alrosa’s decision to suspend its membership, the status it still holds today. A majority of the departed members, including Richemont, returned to the council, though Pandora did not.

Ultimately, such frictions are inevitable and “healthy,” Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond industry analyst based in New York, said in a phone interview. “They keep international organizations like R.J.C. on their toes.” Mr. Zimnisky later noted that, with a membership that spanned “different cultures, different religions, different economic circumstances and different political ideologies, coming to a consensus on anything is understandably difficult.”

Transparency, he said, is one of the main benefits that groups such as the council can offer. “They can really add value by providing consumers with reliable information and letting the consumers decide.”

And communicating with consumers is part of Ms. Grant’s directive, Mr. Bouffard wrote. “Ms. Grant is uniquely qualified and positioned to help bring the message and work of the R.J.C. to consumers, as that is a strategic board imperative to achieve this decade.”

She has accepted that her work will go from writing critiques to, potentially, being the subject of them. “I think it’s important to be brave,” she said. “I want to look back and say, ‘I really went for it. I really tried to make a difference.’ That, for me, hopefully, will outweigh the criticism that will come.”