OIV sets new green standards for wine trade

The international wine trade has become one of the first industry sectors worldwide to agree a consistent system to calculate carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.

Image: oiv.int

The new system agreed by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) allows all companies involved in the wine business to use a standard methodology to rate their own environmental performance.

Called the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol, the system has two main strands: an 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 vine and 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 increasing focus of policy makers on the impact of greenhouse gases means it is vital we are able to accurately calculate the contribution the wine sector makes.

‘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.’

The WSTA 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.

Written by Richard Woodard