3Sixty2 – Leading the climate change movement in New Zealand Wine

Leading the climate change movement in New Zealand Wine

SDGs (Sustainable Development Goal):

Partners:

– Sustainable Winegrowers
– CarbonClick
– Sustainable Business Network
– Porto Protocol

Company Summary:

3sixty2 is a little wine producer from Marlborough committed to sustainable excellence and finding carbon offset solutions for areas in which we cannot eliminate/ reduce.

Reason Why/Motivation/Background:

New Zealand should be the world leader in reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective way, to demonstrate leadership in sustainability and climate change and reduce the environmental impact felt by most NZ wine regions. Beyond offsetting, we have a commitment to offering full transparency to our customers, regarding where the money for carbon offsets goes; this is why we champion working with CarbonClick.

Project Description:

• We did a life cycle assessment for 3sixty2’s carbon footprint and got to what we expect is 80% accuracy. Over time the accuracy will increase. We then offset 200% of that footprint with CarbonClick. Every time a wine is bottled, or released to the market, Alice offsets these wines on a per-bottle basis per LCA.
• As the industry continues to collect data, the more accurate everyone’s carbon footprint will be. I’ve actively worked on the Sustainable Technical Advisory Group (STAG) to help ensure we make packaging included in consideration.
• Getting started somewhere is important. And although it is not perfect, provides a framework to improve from.

Benefits/Achievements:

• 3sixty2 has become the first wine company in New Zealand to achieve carbon-positive status. My entire wine portfolio now commits to a 200% carbon offset for every vintage.
• 3sixty2 was New Zealand’s only wine producer to make a finalist for Sustainable Business Network in 2020.
• All wines have scored over 91 points from Master Sommelier, Cameron Douglas MS.

Lessons Learned:

• Being a little producer creates complications and weakens negotiation strength for sustainable provisioning.
• Partnering with businesses with aligned values is critical to achieving sustainable development goals. As an example, my first bottling company had very low sustainable ambitions and when I questioned why they did things that way, their response was you are a little client, we do not need you, if you don’t like the way we do things around here leave. My new bottling company is the complete opposite they have world-class recycling systems, are going through ToiTu carbon reduction certification, measuring their carbon footprint and are passionate about sustainable efficiencies. Same with labels. My new label supplier is Envrionmark certified and is always looking for better technology to deliver more sustainable outcomes and less waste. My labeling supplier before them didn’t care and also had an attitude that they didn’t need our business. That is the reality but a lesson of why finding great suppliers and sharing those contacts around is so important.

Next Steps:

• Work through a media strategy for sustainable storytelling and bring awareness to the subject.
• Build out a content strategy online to build awareness around what producers can do and why consumers should care.
• Strengthen my product stewardship implementation and work harder on developing a circular economy business model.

Potential For Replication:

Yes