International Wine Industry Greenhouse Gas Emission Calculation Protocol and Tool
FINAL REPORT to
GRAPE AND WINE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Project Number: WFA 07/01 Principal Investigator: AMY RUSSELL
Research Organisation: WINEMAKERS’ FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA Date: 17 March 2008
Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
GREENHOUSE GAS ACCOUNTING PROTOCOL FOR THE INTERNATIONAL WINE INDUSTRY
Final Report to the GWRDC Prepared by Amy Russell, Natural Resource Management Coordinator, Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, Ph 08 8222 9255, amy@wfa.org.au 17 March 2008
Table of Contents Abstract Executive Summary Background Project Aims and Performance Targets Method Results/Discussion Conclusion Recommendations Appendix 1: Communications Appendix 2: Intellectual Property Appendix 3: Staff Appendix 4: Budget Reconciliation ATTACHMENTS: Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry Greenhouse Gas Accounting: Calculator Users Guide Calculator available at www.wfa.org.au/environment.htm 2 2 4 5 5 6 7 7 8 8 8 9
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Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
Abstract The Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry and Calculator were developed in the absence of an international methodology to calculate carbon footprints. The wine industry, like others, is facing increasing regulatory and retailer pressure to quantify and reduce their carbon footprint. The Protocol and Calculator are the first step in establishing a consistent methodology based on the best available data. Future developments will include improving data quality and availability, developing a sophisticated online calculation tool and certification scheme and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of the international wine industry. Executive Summary Climate change has emerged as one of the highest profile issues of the day. There is increasing evidence of industry regulations that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and retailers have announced plans to label products according to their ‘carbon rating’. Due to the lack of an international methodology, there is no consistency in ‘carbon footprint/carbon neutral’ claims currently being made by wine companies. The credibility of these claims is threatened by multiple standards and the lack of accurate baseline data needed to calculate a greenhouse gas budget for wine production. An international wine industry protocol and tool enables the wine industry to constructively participate in the British Standards Institute development of a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050: Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of good and services. The wine industry must be represented in these deliberations, especially given the importance of the UK market to Australian wine exports and the likelihood that PAS 2050 will be adopted as an international standard. The Winemakers’ Federation has been under pressure from wine companies to provide assistance in ‘carbon footprint’ calculations, coordinate industry responses to high profile issues such as ‘food miles’, and commission similar levels of support data and information as has been provided in, for example, the NZ industry. Version 1.0 of the Protocol and Calculator were released at the end of December 2007. During the month of January, the consultants worked with several wine companies to road test the calculator, a process supported by additional feedback from companies trialling the calculator themselves. Following revisions after the road testing, Version 1.1 of the Protocol and Calculator were released on 1 February 2008. Version 1.1 was released in NZ, the US and South Africa, and use of the Protocol and Calculator has also been reported in Bordeaux. Future development of the Calculator will seek to include other national wine industry bodies to both share costs and promote more widespread adoption. In March 2008, the Protocol and Calculator were formally endorsed by the International Federation of Wine and Spirits (FIVS), and presented to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). To build acceptance of the industry Protocol and Calculator, both have been submitted for review by the World Resources Institute, who administers the international GHG Protocol. The international consortium is also working on a process to seek key non-government organisation endorsement of the 2
Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
Protocol. Through the FIVS, formal recognition will be sought from retailers, retailer peak bodies, the International Chamber of Commerce and the World Wine Trade Group. Development of the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry was funded in equal share by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia through the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, the Wine Institute of California, New Zealand Winegrowers, and Integrated Production of Wine South Africa.
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Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
Background Climate change has emerged as one of the highest profile issues of the day. There is increasing evidence of industry regulations that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and retailers have announced plans to label products according to their ‘carbon rating’. In response to these issues, a number of commercial ‘carbon offset’ schemes have appeared on the market that grant ‘carbon neutral’ status to participating companies. ‘Carbon neutral’ claims infer that a wine producer has undertaken a carbon budget for their operation, and in doing so, has quantified the emissions and sequestration factors in the wine production process. However, there is no standard methodology for the calculation of carbon budgets for wine production, or for any other product. Further, the majority of commercial ‘carbon offset’ schemes do not account for other greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxides and methane. Due to the lack of an international methodology, there is no consistency in ‘carbon footprint/carbon neutral’ claims currently being made by wine companies. The credibility of these claims is threatened by multiple standards and the lack of accurate baseline data needed to undertake greenhouse gas budget for wine production. An understanding of the wine industry’s greenhouse gas budget will provide for targeted activities to control emissions at critical points in the wine production process. It will also provide the wine industry with a comprehensive response to regulators, retailers and other stakeholders with an interest in the environmental sustainability of the wine industry. An international wine industry protocol and tool will enable the wine industry to constructively participate in the British Standards Institute development of a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050: Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of good and services. The BSI has stated that they will launch the PAS into the international standards process once it is completed. Both the ISO 14000 and ISO 9000 series of standards originated as British Standards. The wine industry must be represented in these deliberations, especially given the importance of the UK market to Australian wine exports. The Winemakers’ Federation has been under pressure from wine companies to provide assistance in ‘carbon footprint’ calculations, coordinate industry responses to high profile issues such as ‘food miles’, and commission similar levels of support data and information as has been provided in, for example, the NZ industry. Completion of the international protocol and tool will enable the Federation to meet these industry demands. This proposal will see the development of a stand-alone carbon footprint tool. Post project, this will be enhanced to become an online, subscription-based tool that is maintained for currency of data and suitable for third party verification. During recent years, representatives of ‘new world’ wine producing countries have participated in various ad hoc environmental discussion forums. The need for international collaboration on sustainability issues, given increased regulatory and retailer pressures, was widely acknowledged. The need for a whole-of-industry response to ‘carbon-footprints’ provided an ideal opportunity for international collaboration. In early 2006, the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) was contacted by researchers at the UK Food Climate Research Network, seeking information about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 4
Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
wine production and clarification of emission figures reported in the industry’s 2003 State of the Environment Report. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that GHG emission figures reported in the State of the Environment report were ten times greater than figures reported by the Californian wine industry, despite there not being any major differences in winemaking processes between Australia and California. The WFA had further discussions about this issue with representatives of the Californian industry, which served to identify the need for consistent methodologies for calculating GHG emissions profiles for the wine industry. The expectation was that any comparisons between wine industries based on ‘carbon footprint’ figures would be as comparable as possible. In mid-2007, an international consortium with representatives from the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, NZ Winegrowers, Wine Institute of California and Integrated Production of Wines South Africa convened to discuss a collaborative approach to develop an international protocol for calculating the carbon footprint of wine producers. The arrangement would see each country contributing an equal share of the project cost. Tender documents were developed and sent to targeted providers. The tender was subsequently awarded to an Australian-based partnership comprising Provisor Pty Ltd and The Yalumba Wine Company (hereafter referred to as ‘the consultants’). Project Aims and Performance Targets
Aim 1. International wine industry GHG emission calculation protocol 2. International wine industry GHG emission calculation tool Performance Targets Completion of international wine industry GHG emission calculation protocol Completion of international wine industry GHG emission calculation tool
Method The consultants commenced the process by defining the organisational boundaries, operational boundaries and scope classifications associated with the operational boundaries of: stand alone vineyard; stand alone wineries; stand alone packaging centres; and, combinations of the above.
The early phases of boundary definition and emission scope categorisation required the most discussion and negotiation amongst international consortium participants. This occurred via email exchanges and teleconferences based on document drafts provided by the consultants. Agreement reached on the boundaries and scope categorisation represents the core of the international industry protocol. Following agreement on boundaries and scopes, the consultants proceeded to populate the calculator with emissions factor data relevant to wine production, using the best data available. Differences between utility energy sources between countries were built in, and a function enabling the selection of the region of operation was developed to ‘autofill’ utility energy emission factors relevant to that region throughout the rest of the calculator. Due to AB32 regulation reporting requirements that came into force in California in 2008, regulation-specific reporting sheets were also added, a function 5
Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
expected to be expanded to cover regulatory requirements in other countries in future online versions of the tool. Due to the variability in data available to include in the calculator, the consultants developed a quality assurance ranking for data. The ranking, ranging from A-F and X for ‘unknown’, took into account variables such as independent verification of data, whether or not it came from a potentially biased source (eg corporate research), underpinning life cycle assessments, and model testing of data to minimise variability. Version 1.0 of the Protocol and Calculator were released at the end of December 2007. During the month of January, the consultants worked with several wine companies to road test the calculator, a process supported by additional feedback from companies trialling the calculator themselves. Following revisions after the road testing, Version 1.1 of the Protocol and Calculator were released on 1 February 2008. Results/Discussion The project to deliver the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry and Calculator were conducted over a short period as a result of imminent regulatory and retailer pressures. It is acknowledged that the Protocol and Calculator are not perfect, but that they represent the best available data and industry consensus at the time. The development of the Protocol and Calculator is also useful for future discussion about carbon footprint calculations and their relevance to the marketplace - by capturing current thinking on the topic, discussions can focus on moving the issue forward rather than arguing fundamentals. One of the major issues identified in the development of the Protocol and Calculator was the sheer lack of rigorous data that can be used to populate the calculator. This is especially the case for Scope 1 emissions from agricultural soils and post-application fertiliser emissions, and Scope 3 embodied emissions for packaging. The accuracy of carbon footprint calculations is also impacted by the quality of company records and monitoring of emissions sources. The compound nature of poor emissions factor data for some sources and inaccurate or incomplete company records have lead some members of the international consortium to the conclusion that the process that a company undertakes to calculate their carbon footprint is more important than the resultant numbers. The process itself gives an indication of where a company’s greatest concentrations of emissions are, regardless of the exact quantities. Mitigating actions can then be focused on those concentrations. The actual carbon footprint value will vary with seasonal conditions; machinery and vehicle changes etc, and is not a static figure. The adoption of the Protocol and Calculator has been encouraging. Both are available on the WFA website. Although there is no mechanism by which the WFA can track downloads of the documents, industry comment and questions have been widespread. Version 1.1 was released in NZ, the US and South Africa, and use of the Protocol and Calculator has also been reported in Bordeaux. Future development of the Calculator will seek to include other national wine industry bodies to both share costs and promote more widespread adoption. In March 2008, the Protocol and Calculator were formally endorsed by the International Federation of Wine and Spirits (FIVS), and presented to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). To build acceptance of the industry Protocol and Calculator, both have been submitted for review by the World Resources Institute, who administers the international GHG Protocol. The international 6
Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
consortium is also working on a process to seek key non-government organisation endorsement of the Protocol. Through the FIVS, formal recognition will be sought from retailers, retailer peak bodies, the International Chamber of Commerce and the World Wine Trade Group. Conclusion The Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry and Calculator is now available for use in the international wine industry. Future developments will see the enhancement of the calculator into a sophisticated and functional online tool that will be suitable for independent certification. The onus is on the international wine industry to use and advocate the Protocol, so that if carbon footprints are to have a role in differentiation in the marketplace, this is based on the indicative footprint rather than the method used to calculate the footprint. Recommendations 1. That wine companies ensure their carbon footprint calculations are consistent with the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry, regardless of whether or not they use the Calculator tool developed as an example application of the Protocol. 2. That the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry be used by industry in providing feedback on drafts of the BSI British Standard PAS 2050: Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services. 3. That the Australian wine industry seek to continue its role in the international industry consortium to further develop the Calculator into a functional online tool suitable for third party certification. 4. That the Australian wine industry seek to address the data gaps and/or validate poor quality data identified in the development of the Protocol and Calculator, with respect to: a. Sequestration potential in the vineyard; b. Emissions from fertilisers after they have been applied in the vineyard; c. Emissions embodied in packaging options (glass, PET, Tetra Brik, Tetra Prisma, aluminium cans, bag-in-box, aluminium screw caps, cork (natural, agglomerate and synthetic), glass stoppers, Zork and cartons; and d. Emissions embodied in purchased wine products (juice, wine, spirit, bentonite, tartaric acid, barrels).
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Final Report - WFA 07/01 International Wine Industry GHG Emission Calculation Protocol & Tool
Appendix 1: Communication The Protocol and Calculator have been the subject of several media releases in Australia and overseas. A paper on the Protocol has been submitted for the 2008 OIV World Congress in June. The project has been included in presentations in domestic fora including: Wine Industry National Environment Committee South Australian Wine Industry Council WFA WineSkills workshops South Australian Wine Industry Environment Round Table WFA Future Leaders Program Australian Wine Industry Outlook Conference Western Australia Wine Industry Outlook Conference
The outputs of the project are available in the Environment section of the WFA website. Appendix 2: Intellectual Property The Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol for the International Wine Industry and Calculator are available free of charge to the international wine industry. The Protocol, Calculator and User Guide are available for downloading at www.wfa.org.au/environment/htm. Appendix 4: Staff Karl Forsyth, Darren Oemcke - Provisor Pty Ltd Cecil Camilleri - The Yalumba Wine Company Amy Russell - Winemakers’ Federation of Australia Jacques Rossouw - Integrated Production of Wine South Africa Chris Savage, Wendy Garcia, John Nagle, Bob Calvin - Wine Institute of California Philip Manson - NZ Winegrowers
Appendix 6: Budget reconciliation
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