New Zealand Winegrowers Launches Roadmap To Net Zero 2050

30 August 2024

New Zealand Winegrowers has released the New Zealand Wine Roadmap to Net Zero 2050. The launch was part of the Research & Innovation Forum, one of several events that make up the Altogether Unique 2024 annual wine celebrations, this year held on 30 August in Wellington.

The New Zealand wine industry has the goal to be Net Zero by 2050. New Zealand Winegrowers Environment Committee Chair Fabian Yukich, says the wine industry needed a pathway on how to achieve this important goal. “Climate change is the biggest long-term challenge facing our industry. It will influence our choice of grape varieties, wine styles, viticultural techniques and regions, and importantly, the purchase decisions of our customers. Our response to climate change is critical to the reputation of New Zealand as a producer of high value, sustainable, premium quality wine.”

The Roadmap was made possible through the support of EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority) and produced by thinkstep-anz. The Roadmap identifies the industry’s current greenhouse gas emission (GHG) footprint and consistent with the industry’s goal, it sets out where the wine industry needs to be at 2030, 2040 and 2050. The Roadmap offers vineyards and wineries practical options for innovation that will help the industry to reduce its emissions as much as possible, as fast as possible.

In the short term, reducing scope 1 emissions is the most practical approach, as scope 2 and 3 emissions will require innovation from across the value chain, in particular electricity generation, transport and packaging. New Zealand Winegrowers General Manager Sustainability Dr Edwin Massey, says “The wine industry has a proud history of embracing challenges and turning them into opportunities. Learning from each other, and from partners up and down our supply chain, will be critical to reducing emissions and meeting our 2050 goal.”

The Roadmap to Net Zero 2050 is just one component of the New Zealand wine industry’s commitment to sustainability. Since 1995, Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) has been the wine industry’s independently audited sustainability certification programme. Over nearly three decades, SWNZ has gained an enviable global reputation for best practice in sustainable wine production, proudly represented by the SWNZ logo on millions of bottles of New Zealand wine that are exported around the world.

As wine consumers increasingly demand greater transparency of environmental credentials, this next step by the New Zealand wine industry will see that it is well poised to continue to hold onto its exceptional reputation as a leader in sustainable wine production.

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