How can wine play its part?
by Tiffany @ The BIB Wine Company
We could hardly miss the opportunity to mention the record breaking temperatures we experienced last week. Many of us were frantically checking reviews for the best fans, comparing tips on how to cool our houses in the woeful absence of air conditioning. Refreshing our weather forecast apps on repeat. We even read somewhere about applying ice packs to your armpits! Anyone try this? Perhaps one for the next heatwave...
Certainly it served as a frightening reminder of the effects of human-caused global heating. London expected to feel like Barcelona by 2050?? It's clear that urgent action is needed to reduce emissions now.
For our part we'll continue beating the drum about alternative packaging formats within the wine industry. The manufacturing and recycling of glass bottles is wine's biggest greenhouse gas contributor, whilst almost half a kilo of CO2e per bottle can be saved by switching to alternative packaging formats (Alko Study).
The IPCC’s (International Panel on Climate Change) most recent working group expressed that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43% this decade. They called for 'deep and meaningful cuts across all sectors. This will not be possible in wine without reducing our reliance on traditional glass bottles.
Wine Traders for Alternative Formats (WTAF) is an alliance of premium and innovative wine companies promoting wine in alternative formats. BIB Wine is one of the founding members and our MD, Ollie, has been instrumental in setting up the organisation. It's an organisation all about collaboration. Boxed wine works very well in most situations, but sometimes a can of wine might just fit the occasion better. Or paper bottles, kegs, returnable glass bottles etc. The point is that as a range of environmentally friendly solutions, we're stronger together, and together we have a bigger voice. The main aim? To reduce our reliance on traditional glass bottles so that we can help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the wine we drink. Thank you for your support and for joining us on our quest to tackle the industry's carbon footprint.
