Emissions Reduction Roadmap for the Australian Wine Sector
Abstract
The Australian wine sector faces significant challenges from the direct impacts of climate change, as well as the changing expectations amongst regulators and consumers for transition to a low carbon future. In June 2022, Wine Australia commissioned sustainability consultancy Edge Environment to develop an Emissions Reduction Roadmap for the Australian grape and wine sector. The project determined the current carbon footprint of the sector, identified opportunities for emissions reduction and developed evidence-based, industry-endorsed targets and a plan to achieve them.
Summary
Wine regions around the world are facing production challenges as a result of climate change, and global action towards a lower carbon future is accelerating. Agricultural commodities all need to consider the carbon within their products to reduce their impact on climate, and to ensure access to key markets in the future.
In June 2022, Wine Australia commissioned sustainability consultancy Edge Environment to develop an Emissions Reduction Roadmap for the Australian grape and wine sector. The project was guided by a Steering Committee and an Expert Reference Panel of industry members. Consultation across the entire production chain included interviews, workshops, a survey and two webinars, with over 300 customers across all wine regions directly engaged through the project.
The project delivered four key outputs:
- A ROADMAP document, which details the why and the what of decarbonisation for the sector and demonstrates our intentions to our own stakeholders, supply chain partners, governments, customers, consumers and markets
- A practical GUIDE, which supports the Roadmap in setting out the how of emissions reduction for grapegrowers and winemakers, both in their own businesses and to empower collective action across the entire production and supply chain
- A TOOLS document, which provides an assessment of carbon accounting tools available to grapegrowers and winemakers
- A project REPORT suitable for Wine Australia and other peak industry bodies with technical information and details not included elsewhere.
The Roadmap was formally released in September 2023 with a webinar and media release and supported by a dedicated webpage which contains all public-facing roadmap documents and supporting material.
The Roadmap outlines a plan for the sector to achieve 42% emissions reduction by 2030, by implementing a number of key initiatives across all three emissions scopes, with a longer-term goal of net zero by 2050. An evidence-based target for 2030 aligns with the renewed global focus on 2030 following COP26, and is more ambitious than the federal target.
Wine Australia will continue to support grapegrowers and winemakers to implement the actions in the Roadmap and make progress toward sector emissions reduction targets. Promotion of collective action will occur through ongoing roll-out, the Australian wine emissions reduction network, targeted extension and adoption activities, messaging, sharing of success, case studies and other tools. The emissions baseline and key actions will be reviewed in 2025, 2028 and 2030 to track sector progress towards the targets.