Lafage leads new raft of silver memberships at IWCA
Three top wineries have achieved silver member status as part of the International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) – a sustainability initiative founded in 2019 by Familia Torres of Spain and Jackson Family Wines in the US.
Domaine Lafage (France), Herdade dos Grous (Portugal) and Okanagan Crush Pad Winery (Canada) are the newcomers to the IWCA’s silver membership status. Each has each been recognised for their work in lowering their carbon emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 over the past 12 months, while also setting a roadmap to work towards net zero by 2050 (both of which form part of the IWCA’s core mission statement).
The total of silver members now sits 26 among the IWCA. Six have gold status while 13 remain in the applicant stage.
Commenting on the news, Charlotte Hey, executive director of IWCA, said: “It is a privilege to celebrate the emission accounting and reduction efforts of these top wineries from France, Portugal and Canada, strengthening our presence in such important wine-producing nations. IWCA’s science-based approach to reducing carbon emissions is helping to build awareness of best practices that mitigate climate change and its impacts in vineyard and winery operations. These members play a key role in reinforcing our collective work to decarbonize the global wine industry.”
The IWCA is the result of an initial collaboration between two leading wine families, which set out to preserve the world’s great wine heritage via innovative carbon reduction strategies.
The IWCA’s objective is for all members to commit to becoming net zero by 2050 across Scopes 1-3, ensuring constant reductions to meet intermediate targets by 2030.
In 2021, the IWCA joined the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign and became the first facilitator and champion within the wine and agricultural industries to build momentum and support for wineries to become climate positive.
Speaking of the winery’s own sustainable journey, Jean-Marc Lafage of Domaine Lafage, said: “As we have faced extreme drought in Roussillon, we have been successfully working and experimenting at Domaine Lafage to adapt our practices, moving towards regenerative viticulture. We are happy and proud to become a silver member of the IWCA to play an active role in this worldwide challenge and to encourage other wineries to reduce their GHG emissions.”
Luís Duarte, chief winemaker and general manager at Herdade Dos Grous also recognised the achievement as a “very important step for our company”. Craig Pingle, general manager at Okanagan Crush Pad Winery, joined the call for sustainable action, asking wineries “across British Columbia and Canada to join us in our commitment to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050”.
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