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Torres reaches its 30% carbon emissions reduction target
Green-focused Spanish wine giant Torres has reduced its per bottle carbon emissions by 30% compared to 2008 levels, achieving the goal a year ahead of schedule.
The train that takes visitors on winery tours around Torres’ flagship estate in Penedès is electric
Keen for further progress, Torres has set itself a new target: to reduce its per bottle CO2 emissions by 55% compared to 2008 levels by 2030.
“We made an enormous effort to reach our emissions reduction target, which we considered very ambitious at the time. Now is the moment to push for even more ambitious environmental actions to mitigate global warming and protect winegrowing from its effects,” said Miguel A. Torres, president of Familia Torres.
Several factors have contributed to the reduction in emissions, such as working with suppliers with a low carbon footprint, the use of renewable energy and sustainable transport, and the introduction of light-weight bottles.
Torres works with a biomass boiler at its flagship winery in Penedès, which has cut gas consumption by 95%, and 80% of the company’s vehicle fleet is hybrid or electric, including the train that takes guests on tours of the winery.
Torres is studying the feasibility of using electric tractors in the vineyard and ran a trial at the beginning of the year.
For Torres, preventing carbon emissions is not the only concern – capturing greenhouse gases that are in the troposphere and cause global warming is equally important.
The winery is tackling this challenge on two fronts: through a reforestation project on a 6,000-hectare estate in Chilean Patagonia, which began in 2019 and will make it possible to capture 10,000 tons of CO2 per year.
It is also working with Carbon Capture Reuse technology to capture and reuse the CO2 released during the fermentation process.
Last year Torres joined forces with Jackson Family Wines in California to launch the International Wineries for Climate Action initiative with the goal of reducing carbon emissions across the wine industry.
The green-thinking, family-owned firm celebrated its 150th anniversary this year, though its party had to be put on ice until 2021. Every year Torres re-invests 11% of its annual profits into green initiatives through its Torres & Earth programme, which began in 2008.