South Australia’s Taylors Wines takes a giant leap for climate action in the wine industry

An independent South Australian winery has become the first in the industry to improve its environmental impact to tackle the country’s carbon emissions.

South Australia’s iconic Taylors Wines have joined 31 other prominent businesses in a movement to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The family-owned Clare Valley business is the first independent Australian winery to commit to environmental sustainability under the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and vow to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in their production emissions by 2030.

Taylors Wines in South Australia's Clare Valley

“The targets we’ve set with the SBTi touch on many aspects of our winery operations and vineyards,” third-generation winemaker and managing director Mitchell Taylor said.

“We hope our commitment to this initiative inspires others in the Australian wine industry to set Science Based Targets to reduce their emissions.”

Woolworths, Telstra, Origin Energy and Zimmermann are among the other big names who have committed to independent targets to reduce their carbon footprint. Taylors’ announcement comes after the collaborative plan between Australian Grape and Wine and Wine Australia outlined it’s plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 with their ‘Vision 2050’ project.

SBTi is a collaboration between conscious global market leaders, CDP Global, UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) who encourage other large organisations to set achievable science-based goals in an effort to sustain a low-carbon economy and ultimately reduce emissions.

Clinton Taylor inspecting new plants at Taylors Wines in South Australia's Clare Valley

Taylors Wines are notorious for paving new sustainable paths in the wine industry.

For over a decade they have maintained a substantial Environmental Management System (EMS) which controls the environmental impacts of the business and identifies the framework required to make necessary improvements.

They use energy efficient refrigeration tanks, temperature controlled barrels, organic cultivation practices in the vineyards and have an onsite wastewater recycling system.

“As a multi-generational family winery, creating a sustainable business is essential to the future of our industry and to the planet,” Mr Taylor said.

“As viticulturalists we’ve always been intimately connected to the climate and changes in the seasons.”

“Our industry has seen first-hand the significant impacts of climate change on wine regions around the world.”