Stellenbosch Vineyards has been awarded Carbon Hero status through the Confronting Climate Change Initiative, as part of Advini South Africa’s extensive sustainability drive.
The Confronting Climate Change (CCC) Initiative is a carbon footprinting project, developed to support the South African fruit and wine sectors through identifying and responding to the risks and opportunities associated with carbon emissions. The Carbon Heroes carbon footprint label and website were launched at the end of 2021 to recognise wineries for meticulously calculating their carbon footprint and responding to improve emissions.
The CCC audit evaluates carbon emissions, including electricity, processing inputs, packaging and waste. “Continuous improvement is a cornerstone of our sustainability programme and efficiently measuring carbon emissions is the first step in understanding where improvements can be made,” explains Stellenbosch Vineyards’ compliance manager, Mathilda Malan.
Stellenbosch Vineyards’ carbon emission report revealed that glass and electricity account for the largest percentage of the winery’s carbon emissions. “We have already started the process of using locally-produced, light weight glass, as well as sustainable alternative packaging,” explains Stellenbosch Vineyards’ operations manager, Delana Green. “As Advini South Africa’s innovation and logistics hub, Stellenbosch Vineyards is well positioned to find innovative means of lowering our overall carbon footprint sustainably, through consolidated sourcing of recyclable packaging that is lighter and produced from recycled material,” explains Green, whose surname is indicative of her priorities.