Rosé tinted glasses? : how a new wine region can adopt existing low carbon practices
(2016) In Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science MESM02 20161LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
- Abstract
- Decarbonising agriculture is vital to meet the global climate change target of limiting warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. However, the agricultural sector is not a current focus for greenhouse gas reduction. The wine industry is growing and contributes to agricultural emissions. It is therefore important to understand how wine producers can increase their use of low carbon practices to minimise their carbon footprint.
To understand how the new and expanding wine region of Sussex can reduce its carbon footprint, I first used a literature review to determine the stages of wine production with the biggest carbon footprint, which are vine growing and bottling. Next, I carried out a wine industry practice review coupled with... (More) - Decarbonising agriculture is vital to meet the global climate change target of limiting warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. However, the agricultural sector is not a current focus for greenhouse gas reduction. The wine industry is growing and contributes to agricultural emissions. It is therefore important to understand how wine producers can increase their use of low carbon practices to minimise their carbon footprint.
To understand how the new and expanding wine region of Sussex can reduce its carbon footprint, I first used a literature review to determine the stages of wine production with the biggest carbon footprint, which are vine growing and bottling. Next, I carried out a wine industry practice review coupled with a questionnaire answered by six global low carbon leaders to find out how and why they are reducing their carbon footprint. I found that they use a variety of low carbon vineyard practices and mainly low carbon lightweight bottles. Economic and environmental reasons motivate low carbon leaders to be carbon neutral and their main barrier is practicality. Finally, Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned behaviour was applied to interviews with ten Sussex wine producers to find out how their intention to use low carbon practices could be increased. Here I found that Sussex wine producers are using low carbon vineyard practices but not bottling practices. Overcoming perceived barriers, including practicality while promoting economic benefits would increase the intention of Sussex wine producers to use more low carbon practices.
Learning from existing global low carbon leaders in combination with identifying motivations and barriers perceived by Sussex wine producers to using low carbon practices, could help to understand how to increase the intention of wine producers in emerging wine regions to reduce their carbon footprint. The wine industry could act as a springboard for pioneering low carbon agriculture because producers of high-end wines have relatively more control over production compared to other agricultural products. These practices could potentially be disseminated to help the rest of the agricultural sector reduce its carbon footprint. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8881611
- author
- Redford, Ellen LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MESM02 20161
- year
- 2016
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- sustainability science, England, wine industry, carbon footprint, theory of planned behaviour
- publication/series
- Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
- report number
- 2016:025
- language
- English
- id
- 8881611
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-16 10:47:00
- date last changed
- 2016-06-16 10:47:00
@misc{8881611,
abstract = {{Decarbonising agriculture is vital to meet the global climate change target of limiting warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. However, the agricultural sector is not a current focus for greenhouse gas reduction. The wine industry is growing and contributes to agricultural emissions. It is therefore important to understand how wine producers can increase their use of low carbon practices to minimise their carbon footprint.
To understand how the new and expanding wine region of Sussex can reduce its carbon footprint, I first used a literature review to determine the stages of wine production with the biggest carbon footprint, which are vine growing and bottling. Next, I carried out a wine industry practice review coupled with a questionnaire answered by six global low carbon leaders to find out how and why they are reducing their carbon footprint. I found that they use a variety of low carbon vineyard practices and mainly low carbon lightweight bottles. Economic and environmental reasons motivate low carbon leaders to be carbon neutral and their main barrier is practicality. Finally, Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned behaviour was applied to interviews with ten Sussex wine producers to find out how their intention to use low carbon practices could be increased. Here I found that Sussex wine producers are using low carbon vineyard practices but not bottling practices. Overcoming perceived barriers, including practicality while promoting economic benefits would increase the intention of Sussex wine producers to use more low carbon practices.
Learning from existing global low carbon leaders in combination with identifying motivations and barriers perceived by Sussex wine producers to using low carbon practices, could help to understand how to increase the intention of wine producers in emerging wine regions to reduce their carbon footprint. The wine industry could act as a springboard for pioneering low carbon agriculture because producers of high-end wines have relatively more control over production compared to other agricultural products. These practices could potentially be disseminated to help the rest of the agricultural sector reduce its carbon footprint.}},
author = {{Redford, Ellen}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science}},
title = {{Rosé tinted glasses? : how a new wine region can adopt existing low carbon practices}},
year = {{2016}},
}