{"id":89991,"date":"2024-01-04T13:44:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T18:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=89991"},"modified":"2024-09-01T09:54:26","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T13:54:26","slug":"opinion-kerrie-pickering-and-gary-pickering-discuss-sustainable-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/01\/opinion-kerrie-pickering-and-gary-pickering-discuss-sustainable-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: Kerrie Pickering and Gary Pickering discuss sustainable wine"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article written by Kerrie Pickering, Adjunct Professor in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre at Brock University, and Gary Pickering, Professor of Biological Sciences and Psychology at Brock University, originally appeared in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The current global food and beverage system is\u00a0unsustainable.<\/p>\n

In 2023, world leaders issued a\u00a0declaration at the UN climate change conference COP28\u00a0acknowledging the role that more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems can and must play in responding to the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

The wine industry is both one of the\u00a0sectors of our agri-food system\u00a0most affected by climate change and is also a\u00a0small (if not insignificant) contributor\u00a0to system-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.<\/p>\n

The wine industry has faced criticism over its\u00a0environmental, economic and social sustainability\u00a0more generally. However, it is consumer purchase decisions (which wine do I buy?) which have the greatest potential to drive much needed systemic change to improve sustainability across the wine industry.<\/p>\n

Bottling grapes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conventional wine production is\u00a0not inherently sustainable, degrading land, water and air while reinforcing social injustices and inequity.<\/p>\n

Wine grape production\u00a0is responsible for over 17 per cent of the sector\u2019s GHG emissions, mainly through fossil fuel-powered machinery, while the application of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers\u00a0can reduce biodiversity,\u00a0cause soil infertility\u00a0and pollute local rivers and lakes.<\/p>\n

Less visible are the social injustices experienced by many of the critical migrant workers employed during the grape harvest. In the 2023 harvest, two\u00a0human trafficking\u00a0investigations were launched in Champagne. Investigators discovered numerous undocumented workers living in squalid conditions describing their ordeal as being \u201ctreated like slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wine-making accounts for up to\u00a081 per cent of sector-wide GHG emissions\u00a0through electricity, chemical and water use. However,\u00a0the emissions from glass bottle production and transport can also be a signifficant factor. Bottles can weigh from around\u00a0350 grams\u00a0to almost\u00a01,220 grams.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s estimated that\u00a0more than half of the bottles\u00a0used in the United States are shipped from China, crossing the Pacific Ocean before being filled and then distributed across the globe. The heavier the bottle, the more fossil fuels are required to\u00a0transport them. Then once consumed, managing the waste creates further\u00a0emissions.<\/p>\n

Growing actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

The wine industry is responding to these challenges. In fact, Canada has been pioneering some of the important initiatives. For instance, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is one of the world\u2019s largest alcohol purchasers and requires that standard wine bottles (750 ml) sold through their stores\u00a0weigh no more than 420 grams.<\/p>\n

Both small and large producers in the\u00a0U.S.,\u00a0France, and\u00a0New Zealand\u00a0are using lighter bottles to reduce their environmental impact and save money.<\/p>\n

Wine writers\u00a0are also playing their part, by beginning to add the bottle weight in their reviews. Reusing empty bottles can also significantly reduce emissions \u2014\u00a0more so than lowering bottle weight\u00a0\u2014 and\u00a0some countries\u00a0are making significant progress in this regard.<\/p>\n

Alternatives to glass bottles\u00a0with lower carbon footprints do exist, including bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), paper bottles, boxed wine, wine on tap and aluminium cans. Unfortunately,\u00a0customers can be hesitant\u00a0to buy wine in these alternative formats,\u00a0perceiving it to be of lower quality. Thus, consumer education is important.<\/p>\n

While winegrowing using\u00a0organic\u00a0or\u00a0biodynamic\u00a0principles may in some cases promote greater sustainability, these account for only six per cent of vineyards.<\/p>\n

Most wine producers employ more conventional grape growing methods, which in many cases are being adapted to create more sustainable practices. In the vineyard, these include using more disease and drought resistant grapes and\u00a0rootstock, which require fewer chemical sprays and less water.<\/p>\n

On the wine production side, many wineries \u2014 including\u00a0here\u00a0in\u00a0Canada\u00a0\u2014 are investing in geothermal systems for heating and cooling needs in the winery, significantly reducing electricity use. These initiatives are supported by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) \u2014 whose 50 member states produce\u00a087 per cent of global wine\u00a0\u2014 which recently\u00a0adopted a policy\u00a0promoting general principles of sustainability across all production phases.<\/p>\n

Other industry organizations such as\u00a0International Wineries for Climate Action\u00a0are focused on ways to reduce GHG emissions to net zero by 2050, while the\u00a0Sustainable Wine Roundtable\u00a0is an independent group seeking to advance sustainability across the wine value chain and transfer that information to the consumer.<\/p>\n

Encouraging sustainability<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, these efforts to improve sustainability have been uneven and inconsistent,\u00a0confusing consumers\u00a0wanting to make an informed decision when purchasing wine.<\/p>\n

Recent research from our lab has shown relatively\u00a0limited consumer knowledge about sustainably produced wine, but equally\u00a0a willingness to engage in many behaviors\u00a0around the product, including buying more environmentally friendly wine, and paying more for both environmentally and socially responsible wines.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this is especially the case with\u00a0younger wine consumers, who value sustainability considerations more than older generations when\u00a0making purchase decisions generally.<\/p>\n

Consumers seek easy ways to identify sustainable wine, such as clear visual cues on labels and trustworthy sustainability certifications. These considerations need to be priorities for the global wine industry as it seeks to respond to consumer demand, and address existential challenges to its long-term viability.
\n\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kerrie Pickering, Adjunct Professor in Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, and Gary Pickering, Professor of Biological Sciences and Psychology, wrote a piece published in The Conversation about how sustainable wine can help vineyards and the environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,6,41,38],"tags":[2262,348,522,3457,4687,5512],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89991"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90268,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89991\/revisions\/90268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}