The Background
 Dieu Donné Vineyards is an historic wine estate situated in the wine-growing region of the Western Cape, South Africa. The estate produces around 280 tons of grapes and 16,500 cases of premium red and white wine per annum, primarily for the export market. In addition, there is also a newly-built micro-brewery and upmarket restaurant on the estate.
The Objectives
Escalating energy consumption, rising electricity tariffs as well as pressure from the export market, which favours sustainably-produced wines, are all factors which led Dieu Donné to engage GCX to conduct a carbon footprint assessment of its operations. The company was aware of the environmental, marketing and financial benefits which could be derived from such a process and wanted to gain an understanding of its direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as an initial step.
The Process
GCX conducted the analysis according to the internationally recognised Standard, the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol (WRI and WBCSD, 2002). The control approach was used to consolidate all emissions controlled by the legal entity. Data used was submitted to GCX by Dieu Donné for their 2007/8 financial year.
The three main areas of Dieu Donné’s operations were the focus of this investigation, namely:
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the Brewery and Cellar
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the Farm/Vineyards
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the Restaurant
These findings indicate that for the 2007/8 financial year the biggest sources of carbon emissions for Dieu Donné were:
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Electricity (47% or 188.60 tons of CO2e)
- Distribution (13% or 53.01 tons of CO 2e)
- Fugitive Emissions (9% or 37.48 tons of CO 2e)
- Employee Commute (9% or 36.91 tons of CO 2e)
The table below shows total emissions by source and scope. It also indicates Dieu Donné’s annual carbon emissions intensity:
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4.55 tons CO2e per employee
- 8.81 tons CO2e per hectare
The Results
Dieu Donné’s total carbon footprint for the financial period 2007/8 was 412.93 tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2e). The chart below shows the total inventory of emissions by source.
Note: Intensity reporting only reflects the direct emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) for which Dieu Donné is responsible.
The Recommendations
The biggest source of carbon emissions was from the indirect consumption of electricity, which is also a significant operational cost to Dieu Donné. Whilst there were some low-cost energy-saving interventions GCX could recommend (such as replacing incandescent lightbulbs with CFL or LED’s), we strongly recommended that Dieu Donné commission a full Energy Efficiency Audit to uncover further energy savings potential in other areas of their operations.
To illustrate:
Some additional recommendations were as follows:
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Setting of emissions-reduction targets that can be properly controlled and monitored on an annual basis;
- Implementation of a staff awareness campaign to educate and involve staff in carbon-reduction initiatives (eg. electricity, waste, water etc);
- Replacing old (typically inefficient) cooking and refrigeration appliances with new energy-efficient ones;
- Switching to ozone-friendly coolant gas for refrigeration and air-conditioning;
- Investigating the use of lightweight glass bottles;
- Using organic waste as mulch/compost and implementation of a soil carbon quality improvement scheme;
- Implementation of a company-wide awareness campaign;
- Implementation of an employee travel plan;
- Streamlining of distribution logistics.
The Future
 The opportunities identified in the carbon footprint assessment are currently under consideration by Dieu Donné management as a means for reducing the company’s carbon intensity and operational costs as well as differentiating it in the marketplace.
Dieu Donné has expressed that it may want to offset its emissions in order to become carbon neutral. GCX has advised the company to first implement some of the above-mentioned recommendations so as to reduce its emissions as much as possible before purchasing offsets. GCX will then advise the company on offsetting options to best suit its requirements.
GCX believes that this baseline assessment, and any future assessments, will complement the image of Dieu Donné and will provide a sound basis for reducing its environmental impact, as well as creating awareness around climate change amongst its employees, suppliers and customers.
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