GREENHOUSE EFFECT GAS EMISSIONS COULD REPRESENT A BARRIER IN THAT PERTAINING TO EXPORTING OF SPANISH WINES

The strategies to minimize the carbon footprint will be presented at Fenavin 2011

At the 6th edition of Fenavin, the experts, Alejandro López-Cortijo, Director of IMA, consultancy service on the Climate Change and the Environment and Manuel Sánchez-Brunete, Wine Maker and Director of Agri-Food Projects for the international consultancy INCLAMCO2, will be presenting the conference: Carbon Footprint in the Wine Sector.

On the one hand Alejandro López-Cortijo will be analyzing the implications of the carbon footprint at a general level, and more specifically in that concerning the wine sector. On the other hand Sánchez-Brunete will be explaining, from a practical point of view, application of the carbon footprint in the viticulture world -standards, calculation formulas and cost in accordance to the size of the wineries-.

In as far as the environmental policy is concerned, Spain only operates in accordance to regulations and in this scenario an effort made by the Governmental Departments, Public Administrations and Designations of Origin in the shape of a driving force is of crucial importance. These agencies must work to favor the establishment of mechanisms to calculate the carbon footprint, as well as on actions that reduce these emissions, be the same by way of dissemination and awareness campaigns so that the wine sector can obtain information on the savings in costs and the energy benefits that these actions imply. The idea is to introduce 'ecological' procedures in the wine producing processes -in the cultivation of the vine, in treatment of residue and waste, in the cooling process, in the production of glass containers or in logistics- which will represent up to a fifty percent reduction of the carbon footprint.

In the opinion of López-Cortijo "the Spanish wine sector is one of the first sectors to voluntarily undertake a reduction of carbon emissions in its activity, although there is still much work to be done. The aim of all this is not merely reduced to respecting the environment, as it is also directed at marketing, so that the wineries can obtain a market share and differentiate themselves from their competition. Likewise, the important distribution chains are developing formulas, at an international level, in order to commercialize ecological and Private Label brands that are committed with the cause and that, in the future, could limit presence in these markets of those Spanish wines that are not complying with the environmental standards."

There is no doubt that this is indeed a highly important current issue, in particular as of the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, which Fenavin has always considered to be of great importance given its contribution to preserving the environment and to its consequences in the scope of wine exporting, in particular now that there are more advances in this matter at an international level. This situation actually puts Spain in a complicated position in view of the new legislations that other countries are introducing in environmental matters, as these could represent a barrier for the commercialization of Spanish wines. In view of this outlook, Alejandro López-Cortíjo is absolutely emphatic: "dissemination is a basic task that must be carried out in order to reduce greenhouse effect gas emissions in the wine sector."