Development of a greenhouse calculator industry training package

Abstract

A training manual to improve understanding and measurement of greenhouse gas emissions in the wine industry was developed.

Summary

The primary contribution to the manual was an international project to develop a calculator which took account of inputs and operations in the vineyard and winery (partners were the Winemakers Federation of Australia, the Wine Institute of California, New Zealand Wine Growers and Integrated Production of Wines South Africa). Another major contribution to the training manual was made by the wine company Yalumba, which shared its experiences with the calculator and provided illustrations of actual vineyard, winemaking and packing processes.

As climate change and greenhouse gas accounting will have an increasing effect on Australian wine industry performance in global markets it was deemed important to have a consistent methods of calculation and a rapid uptake of knowledge of the subject.

Provisor was contracted to develop a structured course as an introduction to greenhouse gas accounting and carbon management. The result was a suite of four training modules, namely Understanding Climate Change, Carbon Accounting Methods, Industry Application (Regulations and Guidelines), and Calculating your Carbon Footprint. In addition to an understanding of the carbon cycle the manual was structured to provide a background on sources of all emissions and methods of measurement.

The manual has been a fundamental guide for several wine businesses which are now calculating emissions and making reductions where the possibility of doing so has been identified by the calculator ad through training.