In disappointing and controversial news, the UN-backed Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) appears to have changed course and is poised to allow the use of carbon offsets. In the US the EPA announces new rules on water safety, California proposes the California Compost Tax Credit Fund; in the EU a group of Swiss women win a lawsuit claiming their human rights were violated by the Swiss government’s failure to do enough to combat climate change. A new study reveals agricultural workers in California are earning less despite the 2019 implementation of an overtime payment law. A new study finds the certification Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is working to protect endangered animals.
Regulations
Global: Employees at SBTi have called for their CEO to resign over controversial plans which they fear will enable greenwashing. The Guardian
The UN-backed Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which certifies whether a company is on track to help limit global heating to under 1.5C, has until now, ruled out the use of carbon offsets, instead emphasizing the importance of deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts.
But on Tuesday, the SBTi board of trustees released plans to allow carbon credits in their net zero standard by permitting companies to use them to offset emissions from their supply chains, known as scope 3 emissions.
The board said there was “ongoing healthy debate on the subject”, but that “when properly supported by policies, standards and procedures based on scientific evidence”, the use of offsets in supply chains could be “an additional tool to tackle climate change”, and so it had decided to extend their use. They said a draft of the new rules would be published by July.
The announcement was met with fury by many SBTi staff and advisers, who say they were not consulted on the decision and that the move is not based on science.
Scientific studies into popular offsetting schemes have found that, in practice, many do almost nothing to limit global heating.
It is often unclear how much money from the sale of offsets makes it to communities on the ground.
Legislation
California: Senator Monique Limón, (D-Santa Barbara) has introduced SB 1135 to establish the California Compost Tax Credit Fund. California AG Network
This legislation seeks to incentivize sustainable agricultural practices, undertaken by winegrape growers and other ag producers, by offering a tax credit for the utilization of compost to enhance carbon sequestration efforts.
This legislation is co-sponsored by the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG).
The rule is the first national drinking water limit on toxic PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
PFAS chemicals are hazardous because they don’t degrade in the environment and are linked to health issues such as low birth weight and liver disease, along with certain cancers.
The EPA estimates the rule will cost about $1.5 billion to implement each year, but doing so will prevent nearly 10,000 deaths over decades and significantly reduce serious illnesses.
Over the last year, EPA has periodically released batches of utility test results for PFAS in drinking water. Roughly 16% of utilities found at least one of the two strictly limited PFAS chemicals at or above the new limits.
Water providers will generally have three years to do testing. If those test exceed the limits, they’ll have two more years to install treatment systems, per EPA officials.
UK: Hundreds of UK companies who qualify are yet to complete Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) paperwork. The Drinks Business
UK businesses who produce or use packaging are required to enroll in the Government’s EPR scheme to improve recycling and reduce the amount of packaging waste.
According to Defra, out of 5,200 businesses that have enrolled in the scheme, around 2000 of them have not registered their data. A further 1,000 producers are still to enroll in the Recycling Packaging Database (RPD).
The government has warned that obligated businesses need to enroll and report their packaging data by 31 May 2024 to avoid being fined.
Strasbourg, France: Europe's top human rights court ruled that the Swiss government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change, in a decision that will set a precedent for future climate lawsuits. Reuters
In a sign of the complexities of the growing wave of climate litigation, the court (ECtHR) rejected two other climate-related cases on procedural grounds.
One of these was brought by a group of six Portuguese young people against 32 European governments and another by a former mayor of a low-lying French coastal town.
The Swiss women, known as KlimaSeniorinnen and aged over 64, said their government's climate inaction put them at risk of dying during heatwaves. They argued their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to such climate change impacts.
Diversity & Equity
Sacramento, California: A new study by Alexandra E. Hill, associate professor of Cooperative Extension at the University of California Department of Agriculture and Resources Economics found agricultural workers earn less and work fewer hours under an overtime law approved in 2016. Wine Business
Hill’s study concluded agricultural workers’ earnings decreased by $100 per week and by $2,000 annually after the overtime law went into effect.
Agricultural workers on average worked 3 to 5 fewer hours a week while fewer workers earned overtime pay after the law was implemented.
Hill analyzed data from 2011 to 2022, using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey and the American Community Survey managed by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Hill compared California with states with no overtime laws for agricultural workers.
The National Agricultural Workers Survey includes nearly 8,000 agricultural workers in California and 9,000 workers in states with no overtime law for agricultural workers.
Her work did not include data of agricultural workers employed under the federal temporary international guest worker program known as H-2A or “non-crop” workers.
Sacramento, California: A recap of the recent Women in Wine conference at U.C. Davis. Wine Business
The student group Women in Wine organized the April 6 gathering (on the general topic of sustainability).
Three individual speakers covered viticulture, winemaking and diversity and region wine marketing, followed by a panel of two Napa winemakers and Madeline Puckette, Wine Folly publisher.
The student group also recently launched a mentorship program that paired 18 students with 14 mentors in winemaking, enology, viticulture, and marketing.
Marketing
Washington State: Sustainable WA and Salmon-Safe, a U.S. regional certfiication focused on watershed protection have partnered to allow wineries to achieve certification for both simultaneously. Press release via Wine Business
As part of the updated Sustainable WA Standard, vineyards in the program now have the option of obtaining dual certification for both Sustainable WA and Salmon-Safe, provided all standards are met.
To achieve dual certification, growers must commit to sustainable viticultural practices and pass a third-party audit to ensure operations meet established standards.
Once vineyards are certified, wineries can feature the Sustainable WA logo on their bottles if the wines are made of 75% certified Sustainable WA winegrapes.
To utilize the Salmon-Safe logo, the wines must include 95% Salmon-Safe certified winegrapes.
Global: New research shows that logging operations approved by the U.S.-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) really are more hospitable for jungle-dwelling animals such as forest elephants and great apes. Anthropocene Magazine
Between 2018 and 2021 they mounted 474 motion-sensitive cameras on trees inside 14 different logging areas controlled by 11 different companies. Those areas were divided into seven with FSC certification and seven without.
Joeri Zwerts, a wildlife biologist at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. “We were the first study to really convincingly show that FSC-certified forestry effectively protects wildlife in tropical forests.”
To earn FSC certification, logging companies must, among other things, police their logging roads to deter illegal hunting and demolish logging roads after they are done.
Mammals listed as “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature were 2.7 times more abundant there, while “near threatened animals” were 2.3 times as common.
Viticulture
Global: A new generation of PIWI varieties are on a roll, pushing deeper into Germany, Italy and France. Harpers
Jo Gilbert considers the future for these next-gen grapes.
Transportation
Global: Janicrobinson.com looks at the growing use of wind-powered sail boats to carry wine and other luxury products across the Atlantic with a fraction of the carbon emissions of traditional container ships.
France’s Blue Schooner Company co-founder Guillaume Roche. is realistic – ‘we all know that wind-propelled vessels will not replace container ships in the short term’ – but he highlights some impressive figures: using a sailing vessel to transport one ton of cargo on a transatlantic crossing emits just 14 g of CO2/ton, compared with 6,200 g of CO2/ton on a standard diesel-fuel-powered container ship.
These companies, despite growth and high demand are largely PR exercises - Lucas Przybyla, marketing and communications manager for Albert Bichot note ‘sending cargo this way is twice as expensive as using a container vessel, and the extra cost has to be met by the distributor or the producer’, he observes.
However, there are some potential benefits as capacities increase – if larger cargo sailing vessels are to be welcomed, larger ports perform less well in the sustainability stakes. Often owned by conglomerates (so profits generated do not benefit local economies), they are more polluting than their smaller counterparts, and the volume of sea traffic generates more heat which in turn destroys the marine ecosystem.
Additionally, the huge numbers of containers processed means that wine cargo can sit for longer periods of time and be exposed to heat and/or cold.
Conversely, smaller, wind-powered vessels can get much closer to the factory, farm gate and dinner plate, thus reducing road miles and emissions, reinvigorating local ports and generating a virtuous cycle of jobs, investment, opportunity and renewal.
Energy Use
In 2021, the WhiskHy project received green innovation project funding from the government to carry out feasibility studies for green hydrogen-based decarbonization technology at Beam Suntory-owned distilleries.
The trial used 100% hydrogen to directly heat the still – a part of the distilled spirit will be casked in Scotland at the Glen Garioch distillery, where it will be quality assessed as it matures.
‘Direct-firing’ is regarded as a traditional method of distilling, by which a direct flame is used rather than indirect heating by steam coils. This process is key to the WhiskHy project, as it offers the potential to cut carbon emissions by up to 100% if using green hydrogen.
Packaging
Québec, Canada: Amcor Capsules, a global manufacturer of closures and capsules for wine and spirits brands, has opened a new plant in Granby, Quebec. Press release via Wine Business
The plant operates entirely on renewable energy, leveraging Quebec's hydropower which accounts for 100% of the province's electricity.
The plant will also be producing the company’s greener version of its STELVIN® aluminum screwcap range, which has a reduced carbon footprint by up to 35%1. based on the comparison with an aluminum screwcap made with a European average primary aluminum sheet (9 ton of C02/ton of production) (European aluminum, 2018, https://european-aluminium.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/european-aluminium-environmental-profile-report-2018-executive-summary.pdf