Carbon Footprint

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A study of the Carbon Footprint associated with the production of bottled wine.

Araldica Castelvero S.C.A requested in 2017 the assistance of DNV GL, a leading international certifying agency, to conduct a Carbon Footprint Assessment (CFA) of its bottled wine production along the entire life cycle, from the production phases until the product leaves the production site. The cycle will later be referred to as “from cradle to gate”.
In 2020, the study was revised using the data collected in the two-year period 2017-2018.
In 2022, it was further updated with data for the three-year period 2019-2020-2021.


The study focuses on the following goals:

- Quantify CO2-eq emissions of the products, from cradle to gate: bottled wines, both still and sparkling wines, white wines, red wines and semi-sparkling wines, all produced by the company.

- Define feasible and implementable strategies to reduce the CFP of products. From 2018 bottles have a logo certifying their Carbon Footprint and, on the Web, the consumer can verify the corporate commitment to improve its environmental performance.

The product’s CFP was quantified by applying the following principles, consistently with the approach proposed by ISO TS 14067:2018, ISO 14040/44:2012 Ecoinvent 3.8 2021.

The functional unit is a 0,75 l wine bottle unless otherwise other formats are indicated.

The life cycle is identified from the production phases of the product up to the exit from the production site identified with the division "from cradle to gate".

The phases of product distribution, the use phase and the end of life are not included in this study. With this premise, the study is configured as a partial Carbon Footprint of the product.

The study focuses on emissions resulting from:

- the production of raw materials and of auxiliary materials;
- grapevine growing activities (the vineyard’s layout and growth were taken into account);
- the transport of grapes from vineyards of supplying partners to the bottling facilities in Araldica;
- the energy consumed at the production facilities;
- The primary and secondary packaging of the product;
- The auxiliary materials used in the production processes;
- processing and transport of waste generated at the production facilities.


Consistently with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines on National GHG Inventories, the following Greenhouse Gases were considered:


Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Methane (CH4)
Nitrogen Oxide (N2O)
Hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs) Perfluorocarbons
(PFCs) Sulphur Hexafluoride
(SF6) Nitrogen Trifluoride
(NF3) Halogenated Ether
Trifluoromethylsulphur pentafluoride


Life Cycle Inventory of products:

The grape growing business


Raw material and auxiliary material-related activities: they include emissions resulting from raw material and auxiliary material production activities, their transport and packaging (where present) at the production site of the studied item.

The grape producing model chosen, in terms of agronomic practices and of the processing required, were provided by the staff of Araldica.

2.2 Vinification and bottling activities

They include direct emissions resulting from the combustion, for various reasons, of combustible material that can both directly and indirectly be related to the production of the studied item, and indirect emissions (hence, typically power consumption). For both items the data were directly obtained from the production sites.

Where present, the study also considered auxiliary materials that might be present.

2.4 Calculation method

For each of the basic processes identified, the calculation of the related emissions was as specified below:

CO2-eq = Qi * FdEi * GWPp

Qi is the activity data relative to the x-teenth process based on the functional unit considered

FdEi is the emission factor expressed in kg of GHG (CO2)

GWPp (Global Warming Potential) is the greenhouse gas global warming potential of gas p (considering a timeline of 100 years)

GWP is a characterising index to estimate the contribution to global warming given by the emission into the atmosphere of one kg of a particular gas p, compared to the contribution of one kg of carbon dioxide. In this study, the Emission Factors used are already inclusive of GWp for the various greenhouse gases involved in the analysed process.

Cultivation phases were identified by operating machines that perform them.

In the first study, the relative consumption in liters/hectare was stimulated using bibliographic data while in the second and third studies were estimated on actual consumption recorded on the farm owned by Araldica Castelvero: Il Cascinone.

The quantities of grapes collected and sent to the next phase are the result of direct data collected from corporate registries covering the three-year period 2014-2016, for the second study to the two-year period 2017-2018 and for the third to the three-year period 2019-2020-2021.For each single year, the data of grapes conferred by grape variety and averaged by year, yield and area planted by grape variety were taken.

Following the supply of grapes to the wine cellars, the vinification process is carried out in the Araldica cellars. Failing the availability of direct data for the individual processes relative to energy consumption, these processes were allocated based on the produced masses of wine; energy consumption, instead, referred to data recorded in 2016, in the second study to 2018 and in the last to 2019/2020/2021.

The study considered the waste generated, the waters processed and the mud sent for processing.

The reference for the product’s packaging process was litres bottled in 2017-2018 and in the latest study to bottled litres in 2019-2020-2021. The primary packaging of the product was described in terms of nature of the materials used and the relative weights per type of of wine bottled, based on primary data collected at the Araldica site.

After defining the consumption of the reference facility and choosing the appropriate emission factors, the quantification can be calculated based on the above formula.
The data relative to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are expressed in kg of CO2 per 0.75 L bottle.

For the quantification of fuel consumption for field activities, the study was refined by measuring directly the fuel consumption for the various activities in ordinary companies for the area.

The study showed a decrease in the equivalent CO2 emission in various phases and overall there was a decrease for almost all types of wine with the exception of sparkling wines where it was necessary to adopt a heavier bottle and therefore with a greater carbon footprint for reasons food safety.

A new aspect of the latest study concerning the three-year period 2019-2020-2021 is the introduction of can packaging. In fact, as of 2021, Araldica Castelvero has created a line for the production of both white and rosé semi-sparkling wines and sparkling wines in cans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottle type 0,75 l

CFP 2015-2016

(average value) CO2-eq (Kg)

 

CFP 2017-2018

(average value) CO2-eq (Kg)

% reduction between the second and first study

CFP 2019-2020-2021 (average value) CO2-eq (Kg)

 

% reduction between the third and second study

White Wines

1,0586

0,98987

- 6,5%

0,8563  

-13,5%

Red Wines

1,0444

 1,0396

- 0,5 %

0,8789

-15,5%

Semi-Sparkling Wines

1,0450

 1,0607

+ 1,5%

0,9374

-11,6%

Sparkling Wines

1,2717

 1,2617

- 0,8%v

1,1118

-11,9%

 

Can type 0,25 l

CFP 2019-2020-2021 (average value) CO2-eq (Kg)

 

White Wines

0,1532  

Rosé Wines

0,1618

Sweet Semi-Sparkling Rosé Wines

0,1793

Sweet Semi-Sparkling White Wines

0,1793

Flavored wine-based drinks

0,1793

 

In the table below, the Carbon Foot Print (average value) CO2-eq (Kg) of 0,75 l bottles was compared with that of cans with the same volume (the value of the individual can was multiplied by three to obtain a volume of 0,75 l): as can be seen, the production of wine in cans reduces the CFP by approximately 45%. These results are mainly due to the aluminium from which the cans are made, its lightness and the ease of recycling.

 

CFP 2019-2020-2021 (average value) CO2-eq (Kg)

 

Type of bottle 0,75 l

Type of Can 0,75 l (3x 0,25 l cans)

% reduction between can and bottle

White Wines

0,8563  

0,4596

-46,3%

Rosé Wines

0,8563  

0,4854

-43,3%

Sweet Semi-Sparkling White and Rosé Wines

0,9374

0,5379

-42,6%

 

 


For further details refer to the Executive Summary (Vendemmia 2016)
For further details refer to the Executive Summary (Vendemmia 2018)
For further details refer to the Executive Summary (Vendemmia 2021)

 

Bibliografia

ISO TS 14067:2018

ISO 14040/44:2012

Ecoinvent 3.8 2021

 




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