Here’s how ‘carbon hero’ wineries fight climate change

Don’t be fooled by the green vineyards! Despite these green lungs doing their bit to pull carbon dioxide from the air, the wine industry still has quite a large carbon footprint contributing to climate change, driven by everything from packaging, distribution and the irrigation of vineyards. That’s why the industry decided to do something about it more than a decade ago.

The Confronting Climate Change (CCC) initiative was started in 2008 to support the South African fruit and wine sectors, by identifying and responding to the risks and opportunities associated with carbon emissions.

Anél Blignaut, the project manager at CCC, says that carbon hotspots for wineries include their use of virgin packaging materials, like glass and corrugated cardboard boxes.

“It’s these packaging materials that form large portions of the supply-chain carbon emissions, and are therefore a priority area when looking at reducing carbon levels.”

The impact of winemaking on the environment

Carbon dioxide is an integral part of life. It traps heat in the atmosphere close to the Earth to ensure the planet doesn’t freeze, and it feeds plants.

Blignault explains that problems arise when carbon emissions are rapidly increased through human activities. These activities ultimately heat the “greenhouse” of the Earth’s atmosphere to unprecedented levels.

These higher temperature levels, in turn, mean changes in our climate.

“With the help of plants, we can naturally remove carbon from the air and store it in the soil in a process known as carbon sequestration, a natural process of photosynthesis,” she says. “Combined with active efforts to reduce carbon emissions, it is entirely possible to rectify the damage.”

CCC project manager, Anél Blignaut

In the effort to reduce the environmental effect of their industries, businesses are aiming toward “net zero” carbon emissions.

“Because winemakers are agricultural entities, this means that they can turn their attention to counteracting carbon emissions,” Blignaut says.

“From the outside, the wine industry may appear to contribute less to the carbon footprint thanks to its green vineyards, but the reality is that wine production, from growing to packaging to selling, still has a heavy carbon footprint. It is for this reason that the South African winemaking industry has turned much attention to the carbon emissions of its processes and overall environmental impact.”

ALSO READ: Watch: Why farmers should take climate change seriously

SA Wines leading the charge

As outlined by the 2019 CCC benchmark report, electricity used for the pumping of water to vineyards is the largest source of farm-level carbon emissions. South African grid-supplied electricity is predominantly coal-based, says Blignault.

“The use of synthetic nitrogen-based fertilisers is the second biggest source of carbon emissions in the winemaking process. Packaging and transportation of wine are responsible for the most emissions further along the production process, with glass contributing to over 80% of those total packaging emissions.

CCC project manager, Anél Blignaut

“The CCC encourages South African wine farmers to measure and actively monitor their carbon emissions. It has also named farms that put considerable effort into calculating and understanding their carbon emissions as Carbon Heroes.

“In addition to efforts to reduce carbon emissions in earlier stages of production, Spier’s dedicated product development department is constantly looking at innovations around more sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging. This includes researching and developing bottle alternatives, introducing five new lighter weight bottles in the last year, moving away from the use of sellotape and replacing it with water-soluble glue, and eliminating palette wrap.”

Blignault says that Spier also uses regenerative agricultural methods which are crucial to removing carbon from the atmosphere, “like the practice of using high-density grazing on pastures that leads to carbon being sequestered more than 17 times faster than normal pasture grazing.

“It’s this kind of ambitious, collaborative and holistic effort that will see South African wineries reduce their carbon emissions and ultimately reach the net-zero target,” says Blignault.