The carbon footprint represents the quantity of greenhouse gases (GHG) resulting from all the Champagne sector’s activities, from the production of resources to the end consumers.
A rapidly changing climate
The consequences of climate change are already being felt in Champagne. Between 1961 and 2020, temperatures increased by an average of 1.8°C. Spring frosts are tending to cause more damage than before, due to an earlier budburst. Harvesting is generally taking place ever earlier in the year: on average, it now starts 20 days earlier than 30 years ago!
These are all facts that should galvanise us into taking concrete action, both to reduce the carbon footprint of the Champagne industry and to adapt as much as possible to climate change.
The first wine-growing region in the world to have assessed its carbon footprint
In the early 2000s, Champagne conducted an environmental audit of all its processes. It was the first wine-growing region in the world to assess its carbon footprint in 2002/2003. Since then, this has been updated every 5 years (2003, 2008, 2013, 2018), in its entirety, to regularly monitor the pace of emission reductions.
The assessment measures the impact of such Champagne-making tasks as vine cultivation, wine production, packaging or waste and by-product management, etc. As an example, here is Champagne’s latest Carbon Footprint:
Contrary to what you might think, the core business, linked to the vineyard and wine, represents less than 15% of its greenhouse gas emissions, while the purchase of goods and services accounts for more than 50% of its carbon footprint.
That finding prompted Champagne to adopt an ambitious carbon plan as early as 2005. In 2015, the second Champagne Carbon Plan took over with the objective of reducing the Champagne region's overall emissions by 25% by 2025. Champagne's carbon footprint has already decreased by 15% between 2003 and 2018.
Did you know?
Champagne-related tourism is also taken into account in the calculation of the sector's carbon footprint.