You can’t manage what you don’t measure” – Peter Drucker
Here’s a list of initiatives to help the wine industry reduce their carbon footprint:
The Confronting Climate Change (CCC) Initiative
Is a carbon footprinting project, developed to support the South African fruit and wine sectors through identifying and responding to the risks and opportunities associated with carbon emissions.
The CCC initiative was conceptualised by the South African fruit and wine industry in 2008, to enable South African growers and service providers to measure their carbon footprint, identify ‘carbon hotspots’, develop creative solutions to reduce CO2 emissions, and manage the perceptions of buyers and policymakers in order to secure the long-term viability of the industry.
- CCC provides an on-line carbon footprint calculator for the Fruit and Wine Industry.
- The tool is credible and reliable and has been endorsed by the Carbon Trust
- They provide support in the use of the tool to our users via their preferred means e.g. telephonic, email, etc.
- They provide training workshops of which the basic workshop for new users is currently free of charge and the more advanced workshops we charge a fee.
- Training workshops
- Users are able to benchmark themselves against others (anonymously) in their region via the carbon footprint reports which they receive when they have calculated their carbon footprint.
To find out why calculating your carbon footprint is important – click HERE
WWF – Conservation Champions
In the early 2000s, the wine industry growth was fast and the vineyard footprint was expanding into highly-threatened conservation-worthy habitats.
The need for a unique and powerful partnership between the conservation sector and the wine industry was imminent
WWF provides advisory support to eligible and committed wine farms as part of a biodiversity and water stewardship programme and offers recognition to those who are committed to farming with nature, not against it.
Through a voluntary membership model, WWF works with the environmental leaders in SA’s wine industry, known as the Conservation Champions. These landowners commit to biodiversity-friendly and regenerative farming practices, conserve their natural areas and continually improve their water and energy efficiencies.
WWF supports these farms in their environmental efforts:
- By co-developing detailed environmental management plans
- setting tangible targets
- Assisting them to prioritise actions to address their most pressing environmental risks.
WWF’s work also supports the existing wine industry environmental certification scheme and this, in turn, is jointly marketed through industry bodies under the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) sustainability seal, which one can see on the neck of most wine bottles.
Photo credit: La Motte Wine Estate, South Africa