When in Rome implements climate footprint labels

By Michelle Perrett

Published: 11 October, 2021

When in Rome, the Stroud-based wine company, has revealed that it has become the first wine brand in the UK to implement a climate footprint label on its packaging.

The Gloucestershire-based sustainable wine brand has partnered with CarbonCloud to quantify its product’s carbon footprint and bring more transparency to its climate impact.

It said this initiative would allow When in Rome to analyse the climate impact of all its products, starting with three of its best-selling, bag in box wines.

CarbonCloud is a research-based food-tech startup that enables detailed calculations of climate footprints of food products and production processes.

The analysis scopes a Life Cycle Assessment of the wine, analysing the greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of the production (cradle-to-shelf), from agriculture to distribution, right up until the point the product is placed on the shelf.

When in Rome has labelled itself as the UK’s leading alt-format wine brand, with a mission to make wine with a low carbon footprint more accessible, while focusing on wines from Italy. The company offers the eco-friendly packaging formats such as bag-in-box, cans, and recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles.

When in Rome has started the transparency journey with three of its bag-in-box SKUs: Nero d'Avola 2.25L and Grillo Organic DOC Sicilia 2.25L which are available in Waitrose, alongside their Sauvignon Bianco 2.25L.

The first wine to be assessed, the Sauvignon Bianco, yielded a climate footprint of 0.69 kg CO2e/kg.

When comparing this with the same wine packaged in a single-use glass bottle, a score of 1.18 kg CO2e/kg was produced, meaning a reduction of 41% in carbon production compared to the less eco-friendly alternative.

The calculations for the Nero d'Avola 2.25L and its Grillo Organic DOC Sicilia 2.25L, were calculated shortly after and saw a climate footprint of 0.88 kg CO2e/kg.

Rob Malin, CEO of When in Rome said: “This is a great start of our commitment to radical transparency on the climate impact of our business activities – but it is only the beginning. Going forward, we will work with our producers as well as CarbonCloud to minimise the climate footprint of all of our products.”

Beatrice Tobin of CarbonCloud added: "When in Rome unbox a true Italian wine experience and a noble yet raw commitment to consumer and industry transparency. We are cheering When in Rome on joining the climate footprint movement and setting the example in the UK wine market."

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