Why should your wine business take action?
Will you focus on achieving net zero for your wine business despite the challenges? Are you ready to be a genuine innovator and paradigm buster? This journey is about articulating the challenge in the language that investors and financiers will understand, that connects the net-zero agenda to profitability.
With rising costs and rising temperatures, you are in the perfect position to take advantage of the profitable growth opportunities that a net-zero commitment can bring. Not only will this create efficiencies in your business, it will open new doors as customers and markets are increasingly seeking sustainable wine. And in our current tight job market, you will give your staff the knowledge that they are working for a company that cares about more than just profits.
So let’s start this journey…
Not only are there local climate and economic drivers that make net-zero commitments a necessary business decision, but key global shifts.
European markets are already imposing carbon tariffs on carbon intensive industries such as iron and steel. Expansion of this to include the wine industry would make exporting into Europe challenging unless you were already on the path to net-zero yourself.
Global retailer Tesco has taken a true leadership position in its own net-zero journey by setting out the commitment to net-zero across its entire value chain by 2050. Make sure you can remain an option to all retailers.
What does the wine industry need to do?
Carbon neutrality. Net-zero. Taking climate action. These are achieved when a company or product’s net greenhouse gas emissions are equal to zero. Attaining this involves more than simply buying carbon credits.
Emissions fall into three different types:
Scope 1 covers direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by your business. This includes emissions from LPG, natural gas (used for hot water and cleaning) as well as waste and waste water on-site.
Scope 2 covers emissions from the generation of electricity purchased by your business to run the winery.
Scope 3 refers to the other indirect emissions within a company’s value chain. We look to quantify these emissions as they can make up a significant portion of a company’s impact on the climate. Scope 3 can be broadly grouped into two categories:
- Upstream emissions from the creation of your wine. This includes emissions from the growers and harvesters, the transport involved in getting the grapes too you. It also includes employee travel and commuting to work.
- Downstream emissions occur from the distribution or use of your wine, including the recycling/end of life.
How to do this?
Keep your wine business ahead of the game and able to enter all markets by making your own net-zero commitment. Here are the steps involved to get you there:
- Engage your team. Your people are a key part of your business’s net-zero plan. Your employees may already have a personal interest in sustainability, so introducing company goals such as net-zero targets can increase your people’s connection to the business as a whole.
- Get good data. Make it easy for you to track gas, electricity, fuel and other resources every month by asking your retailers to send monthly reports instead of quarterly. Some data is not easily quantifiable, but don’t let this impact your efforts. Remember, progress rather than perfection.
- Share information. Make sure that each month everyone knows your resource and carbon performance.
- Benchmark your performance. By looking at the performance of other wineries, you can better determine where your best opportunities are. Use the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia Program Guide to assist you.
- Use data to identify improvement projects. (Look for the easy wins before investing in large capital investment), Low carbon glass, LED upgrades, Refrigeration smart control, Solar PV,
- Evaluate the opportunities. As you would for any business case, this is about the cost benefit of actions. In the case of net-zero, a big driver is the carbon savings.
- Set targets. An increasing number of companies are choosing to adopt science-based targets which mandate real emissions reductions instead of solely relying on purchasing carbon offsets. You can also choose to prioritise opportunities that are both technically feasible and commercially possible as you consider your percentage reduction by 2025? 2030? 2050?
- Develop a plan. As with any change process within your business, you’ll need an investible strategy and an action plan. Deep-dive into each high-priority project to refine the business case and prepare for investment. This includes how you will measure progress every year. How are you tracking? Where are your shortcomings? Where are you excelling?
- Make it happen. With a committed team across the business, let’s do this. As you make the mental transition from ‘net-zero pathway’ to ‘net-zero management’, consider data, skills, systems, funding.
