Carbon Footprint of Wine

We’ve wondered about the carbon footprint of a t-shirt, now we can ponder the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine, thanks to the work of wine enthusiast Tyler Colman. Colman has, along with sustainability expert Pablo Päster of ClimateCHECK, calculated the carbon footprint of wine, in terms of both its production and transportation. Their findings were published as an American Association of Wine Economists working paper in October 2007.

The wine story starts on the vine with the first source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases coming from the chemical fertilizers used by some wine growers to nourish their plants. It was found though that fertilizers for wine production don't have much of an impact.

Grapes don't require the high levels of fertilizers that other crops do so the proportion of wine's overall footprint is quite minor.

It was the same story with the carbon dioxide released during the fermentation of wine grapes which make up an insignificant percentage of the total emissions associated with wine production.

It’s in the transportation of wine from the cellar door to the consumer where the largest portion of the carbon footprint is produced. The fact that wine is such a region specific product means that it must be transported long distances to get to wine drinkers.

Take the United States for example with the vast majority of wine produced on the west coast of the country while the majority of the population lives east of the Mississippi. Most of the West Coast wines are shipped east by truck, which results in a large carbon footprint.

Out of the various ways to transport wine, Colman and Päster found that air cargo was the worst, followed by trucking, with container shipping by sea having the lowest impact (five times less than trucking and 11 times less than air cargo).

These differences in emissions factors mean that distance isn't always the key factor in determining which wine has the lowest footprint for a given location. If you live in San Francisco, you can get your wine from the many California vineyards; but if you live in New York, it may be more environmentally friendly to buy wine sent by container ship from Bordeaux to a port in New Jersey than to buy American with a wine from Napa Valley, which would be trucked across the country.

Packaging also has an influence on transportation efficiency and on the wine’s carbon footprint. Transporting heavy glass bottles uses much more fuel, and therefore has a bigger impact, than lighter glass or other alternative packaging, which some winemakers are turning to.

Of course, wine's carbon footprint is low in comparison to other contributors, such as electricity generation, and even to other agricultural products, such as corn. But the trend is to become more aware of our carbon footprint and also that of the pleasures with which we indulge ourselves.