Hundreds of wine writers and bloggers gathered in Santa Rosa a week after catastrophic fires killed 40 people, destroyed thousands of homes, and left more than 10,000 people homeless.
Bonterra, a Mendocino County winery in the Fetzer Vineyards portfolio, recently announced that the business is Climate Neutral and that its products are the world’s first organically farmed, Climate Neutral certified wines.
Think of it like a scale, for each metric ton of greenhouse gas emissions generated, a credit for supporting a project such as reforestation or renewable energy can, in theory, lift that ton of emissions from the scale.
The system of carbon credit trading began as part of the 1997 UN Kyoto Protocol, and while it’s not new, the process is still being evaluated from a long range perspective.
The Climate Neutral model allows participating companies to complete the measurement stage in a matter of hours or up to several months, depending on the size of the brand.
“It allowed us to measure our entire emissions footprint, disclose it publicly, commit to near-term reduction targets, and then communicate with our customers, consumers, and industry peers about the process and path forward,” she says.
Jess Baum is Bonterra’s director of regenerative development and sustainability, and she says that examining the company’s emissions footprint is a reasonable starting point in the complex challenge of addressing climate change from a business perspective.
Baum shares that Climate Neutral’s Brand Emissions Estimator footprint calculator helped Bonterra determine its hot spots, build a plan to address those emissions, and take “immediate responsibility” for the brand’s carbon pollution.
The Bonterra team purchased 110% of what was required to account for any potential imperfections in the measurement process and to ensure its footprint was adequately covered.
The industry fails to conceive a firm definition for terms like natural and clean, words that are used widely, but symbolize little more than what the brand intends them to mean.
For consumers, a reputable certification can facilitate the purchase of wine that matches their values and consumption standards.
“That’s why we believe third-party verifications, such as Climate Neutral Certification and Regenerative Organic Certification , will become the gold standard for our industry,” says Newman.
“Consumers are clamoring for brands to demonstrate that their goodness isn’t just at surface level, but rather something that runs deep and penetrates every aspect of a business and its supply chain,” she says.
Baum is reminded that vineyards are closely tied to the climate and land: “Our industry is directly impacted by the climate crisis, from drought and wildfires to record-breaking temperatures.” She says the wine industry is at the “front lines of the crisis” and that taking action is bolstered by collaboration and sharing ideas for improvement laterally.
While not always necessary—many producers may find them restrictive or extraneous to their practices—certifications are a growing resource for wineries to refine or prove their methods and witness the actions taken by their peers, and meanwhile for consumers to make informed buying choices.