Many wineries have recently launched campaigns to reduce their carbon footprint. It is an ambitious task that expands into all areas of operation including production, agriculture and logistics.
Choice of bottle closures can be an important factor in achieving a neutral position. All published estimates show that the production of Natural Cork has a lower carbon footprint than any alternative. More importantly, if you calculate the carbon fixing effect of the cork forest, the net carbon footprint for natural cork shows that each cork acts as a carbon sink. In the carbon footprint calculator provided here - each natural cork contributes an offset of 113.5g of CO2.
| New International Guidelines encourage wineries to include cork's environmental benefits when calculating the carbon footprint of bottled wine. The OIV's recent publication "GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE OIV GREENHOUSE GAS ACCOUNTING PROTOCOL FOR THE VINE AND WINE SECTOR" , wineries were advised to take into account the carbon offset value of the cork forest when calculating the GHG value of cork closures. Cork closures already enjoy a much more favorable GHG rating based on manufacturing considerations. Including the offset of the managed forest makes this difference considerably more valuable to wineries wishing to reduce their carbon footprint. |
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