Wine Trade now has carbon calculator

The Wine Sector is now able to accurately calculate the contribution it makes to greenhouse gases. The Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol has been agreed by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). The new protocol allows those in the wine sector to use a standard methodology to rate their own environmental performance. The Wine and Spirit Trade Association has worked with logistics companies to create a carbon calculator to provide an estimate of transport-related carbon emissions – which companies will be able to employ when using the new system.

Essentially the protocol has two main strands; Enterprise Protocol to help companies to assess the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their activities and a Product Protocol, which offers guidance on emissions associated with wine products.

The move was welcomed by the UK’s Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), whose wine policy director John Corbet-Milward said:
‘The harmonised system will ensure that businesses and governments have a common approach to enable performance measurement. The wine sector is one of the first trade sectors worldwide to develop such a system.’