De Martino is recognized as Latin America’s first Carbon Neutral Winery

Important changes in wine production and the implementation of various measures led to the achievement, which also sees them become only the sixth winery in the world to gain this certification.

 

After various initiatives, geared towards promoting sustainability and care for the environment, De Martino has become the first Carbon Neutral winery in Latin America and the sixth in the world, following their official certification by the Australian Carbon Reduction Institute.

Having focused all their efforts on the implementation of proactive measures in order to reduce carbon emissions as well as supporting third-party projects aimed at lowering these emissions, the prestigious Isla de Maipo based winery was able to achieve this important contribution to the environment. In practical terms, being Carbon Neutral means that all of the carbon emissions that come from the winery’s operations are compensated, taking into consideration the full life cycle assessment of their activity. This includes the complete environmental impact from cradle-to-grave i.e. incorporating the whole supply chain, vineyards, packaging, and transport, all the way to the disposal of the packaging by the final consumer. 

 

Ensuring that all of the greenhouse gases emissions are reduced to zero is not an easy task to achieve and it requires a huge amount of effort, such as that invested by De Martino. At the beginning of the current year the winery will begin to purchase carbon credits, which compensate the remaining emissions once the reduction procedures have been applied. The money from this transaction helps finance procedures for CO2 reduction in New Zealand.

For Marco Antonio De Martino, head of sustainability at the winery, this important achievement “comes with being leaders, and De Martino has always been a leader - both in terms of the quality of its wines and in its investigation and discovery of terroirs; as well as in sustainability. In this sense, the logical step was to become Carbon Neutral, capping a process which has been ongoing for over ten years and which makes us the most sustainable winery in Chile.”

In 2008, De Martino began a complete audit, carried out by the Carbon Reduction Institute, which measured the greenhouse gas emissions in all of the winery’s processes and allowed them to calculate their carbon footprint. For Marco De Martino, this audit helped them to realize “in which areas we generated the most carbon emissions, while at the same time we began to implement measures which were aimed at reducing those emissions and maximizing our resources.”

With Carbon Neutral certification, the aim for 2010 is to incorporate new proactive procedures focused on water control and higher energy efficiency. This way, when the winery is audited again midway through the year, their carbon footprint will have been reduced even further and fewer carbon credits will have to be purchased.