Sustainable Wine Roundtable unveils inaugural sparkling wine report

By James Lawrence

Published: 26 November, 2025

The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR) has marked the second anniversary of its bottle weight accord (BWA) by publishing the world's first comprehensive study into sparkling wine bottle lightweighting, in addition to welcoming two new major supporters.

Written by SWR research director Dr Peter Stanbury, the report outlines a sound basis for the new sparkling wine BWA to mirror the existing initiative, examining safety considerations, consumer perceptions and technical constraints.

Nonetheless, it recommends category-specific weight targets for Champagne, traditional method styles, charmat-style wines like Prosecco, and semi-sparklers.

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According to Dr Stanbury: “We have been working on research into sparkling wine bottle weight to provide an evidence base for a BWA for sparkling wines to partner the existing still wine BWA. The research is now complete, and we’re delighted to launch the report.

“The signatories of our original Bottle Weight Accord between them represent some 9% of wine sold globally. The sparkling wine category is a more complex one, as glass safety is a key consideration where liquids are under pressure. However, we are confident we can recommend targets across different sparkling wine styles which can benefit producers, traders, retailers and others, not just in reducing their carbon emissions, but also in their bottom line.”

Stanbury added that at a time of painful and stubborn inflation, “heavier glass costs more to produce, is more expensive to transport, and with taxes such as the UK government’s EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), costs more to bring to market.”

The report concluded that sparkling bottles currently represent significant unrealised emission savings, with bottle production accounting for up to 50% of a wine's total carbon footprint.

Meanwhile, North South Wines and Famille Perrin have both joined the BWA, committing to the target of reducing average still wine bottle weights to 420 grams across their portfolios.

This brings the total number of signatories to 27, representing more than two billion bottles of wine produced and sold every year.

“We were keen to join the Bottle Weight Accord, as it is working to address one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions in the wine industry,” said Erin Williams, sustainability manager at North South Wines.

“North South Wines are committed to working with our customers and suppliers to bring still wine bottle weights below 420g, an effort that can only succeed if the whole industry takes action… we’re proud to be playing a role in driving change.”

Echoing these sentiments, a representative from Famille Perrin added: “Reducing the weight of our bottles has been an integral part of our company philosophy for over 15 years. Guided by our commitment to offer consumers more sustainable products and in line with our broader environmental objectives, we have continuously sought to reduce the impact of our packaging and contribute to a more responsible environmental footprint across the entire sector.”

BWA signatories have so far reduced their average bottle weight to 430g across 2.5 billion bottles, down from an average of 451g last year across 1.5 billion bottles. And since its launch in 2003, the Accord has mitigated some 294,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, removing 300,000 tonnes of glass from the trade – enough to make 700 million lightweight bottles.

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