December 6, 2022

As the first Toitū carbon-zero certified bottling company in New Zealand, the challenge we set ourselves was a 30% absolute reduction by 2023, regardless of industry growth. This was a big target and we had to critique anything that contributed to our footprint and be inventive with likely solutions.

And we’re glad to announce that since partnering with Toitū, our emissions have reduced by 36%!

Our largest contribution to greenhouse gasses was electricity usage.

From this, we investigated decoupling our electricity emissions. Hawke’s Bay and Auckland moved to Ecotricity, a provider of 100% (re)new(able) energy, and a fellow partner in Toitū. Marlborough has also made changes to their energy supply via Renewable Energy Certificates with Meridian Energy.

Being aware that the demand for electricity will steadily increase in the foreseeable future as we grow with the industry, sourcing renewable energy is critical to achieve our targets. Independent from the switch in energy providers, we achieved a net 16% reduction in electricity needed to bottle a single case.

Part of the electrical revision plan has been converting what fossil fuel vehicles we had on site to electric ones, such as our tug, which used to be a diesel truck.

Introducing energy monitoring quickly revealed issues with the nitrogen generation system we had, so gave us justification for changes to the way we produced compressed air and nitrogen. Future improvements will include recapturing the heat produced by these, and there is an investigation project under way to review the way we produce and handle hot water.

This is an important part of our fabric; we welcome any ideas you may have for future improvements and likewise are happy to share our experience so far.

To find out more, please get in touch with one of our sustainability champions:

Auckland: Gowan Robertson – gowan.robertson@wineworks.co.nz

Hawke’s Bay: Kris Jowett – kris.jowett@wineworks.co.nz

Marlborough: Anthony Barnes – anthony.barnes@wineworks.com