SWR audits seven global standards as pilot study of global sustainability metrics in wine.
Results bear out ‘the urgent need for comparability’ in different standards
December 11, 2024 — The sheer number of sustainability standards in wine is a huge challenge for the industry. With more than 40 standards operating around the world, it is hard for the sector properly to communicate what sustainability means for wine. How are these standards similar, and how do they differ?
SWR is addressing this challenge by undertaking a benchmark of all wine sustainability standards, and is pleased to announce the results of a pilot benchmarking exercise across different sustainability standards in wine. Seven standards from California, South Africa, New Zealand, Italy, Australia and Germany were examined.
Dr Peter Stanbury, Research Director for the SWR, commented on the results.
“First of all, we want to thank the seven groups who offered themselves up for this project. It has been an invaluable first exercise to take us eventually to a global overview of what should be included in any sustainability standard in wine.
“In undertaking this process, we needed to reconcile two potentially-contradictory truths:
Standards need to be local – we talk of terroir with wine, the same is true of standards; but there is an urgent need for comparability – how standards are the same, how they are different.
“The idea of the exercise is to identify and share best practice so that retailers, wine producers, supply chain providers and in fact any interested parties can know what constitutes good practice and reliable metrics in the world of wine production.”
How the benchmark was conducted
The benchmarking process is based on SWR’s Global Reference Framework, the first global statement of what sustainability in wine encompasses. It is a credible, rigorously researched matrix, drawing on expertise from the wine sector and from outside it; the SWR team boasts 85 years’ experience in sustainability in a wide range of sectors which they were able to bring to the framework’s creation. A scoring matrix was devised as a means of identifying how effective the different standards were in a variety of areas related to environment, labour, governance and auditing.
Issues covered in the GRF include:
- Environmental management in vineyard and winery
- Labour standards
- Packaging logistics and onward supply chain
- Governance of both vineyard certifications and standards body
- Collaboration and inclusivity
The Pilot Study – overarching themes
Across the different standards, several themes were repeated:
- More than just a badge
Standards play a dual role: demonstrating sustainable practices to third parties and providing clear guidance to vineyards/wineries on best practice in sustainability
- Audit Burden vs. Inclusivity
Robust audits are essential for credibility but can be burdensome, especially for smaller wineries. Some smaller wineries may avoid certification due to high costs and time commitments.
- Making inclusivity work: support beyond certification
Standards bodies often offer significant support to businesses: consulting-like support, webinars, guidance documents, referrals to external organizations.
- The importance of local relevance
Local standards provide region-specific insights that a global standard cannot, such as addressing local pests or unique climate needs.
- Labour Rights Violations
Labour rights require more rigorous standards; however, raising issues may risk certification, potentially discouraging transparency.
Standards should at minimum include checks on key labour documentation (e.g., worker IDs, legal pay, and accommodation quality)
- Structure and Accessibility of Standards
The standards varied widely in document structure; some are comprehensive yet complex, while others are more simplified but may lack depth.
- Continuous Improvement
All standards emphasize multi-year plans for continuous improvement, with smaller initial steps followed by more challenging tasks over time.
Peter Stanbury concludes:
“Each Sustainability standard we looked at for the pilot had some areas for discussion, but in every case we felt there was positive interaction with the holders which enabled SWR to get a better picture of what each have in the pipeline. Labour issues was a particular area that many standards, we felt, had some gaps in their coverage.
“We hope that the SWR’s work in other areas (for example, the Bottle Weight Accord) will eventually feed into these sustainability standards in future.”
The next steps for the project will involve benchmarking the remaining 30 or so sustainability standards in wine. The results from each will be released to the SWR members in stages as they are completed, with the final report to be delivered by Summer 2025.
About SWR
The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR) is an independent global platform dedicated to advancing sustainability in the wine industry. We are a membership organisation with more than 130 members reflecting the whole wine supply, and operating globally. Our role is to catalyse change in sustainability in the wine sector. We have a number of Action Areas, including the highly successful Bottle Weight Accord in which partner companies commit to reducing bottle weight by 25%. This now covers around 1.5 billion bottles. We also focus on sustainable viticulture, labour standards and are currently developing a tool to allow comparison of the sustainability characteristics of different packaging formats.
The Sustainability Standards bodies which participated in the pilot:
Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing
Equalitas (based in Italy)
Fair’N Green (based in Germany)
Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia
Integrated Production of Wine (based in South Africa)
Wine and Agricultural Ethical Trade Association (based in South Africa)
