Carbon footprint of products and services: The case of a winery in Greece

Abstract

The phenomenon of global warming occurs when air pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GreenHouse Gases (GHGs) are collected into the atmosphere and absorb solar radiation which, according to the natural process, should normally escape into the space, trapping heat and thus causing the planet temperature to rise. One of the available tools of the international scientific community to measure the impact of human activity on the environment, is to record and quantify the carbon footprint, in other words, the total greenhouse gas emissions of a product (or service) throughout its life cycle. The present paper focuses on the above issues and presents the methodology and the outcome of a real case study, aiming to lead to useful conclusions. In this framework a study has been made in order to calculate and analyze the carbon footprint of a wine making company that is based in northern Greece. One of the most important conclusions of this work is the overwhelming share (54 %) that Scope 3 has to the total Carbon Footprint, compared to Scope 1 (25 %) and Scope 2 (21 %), as it is vividly shown in the above Graphical Abstract. While the operation of a wine making company is divided in two main steams, Vineyard and Winery, it is concluded, that the Emissions of the Vineyard participate by 32 % in the total Emissions, while the Emissions of the Winery by 68 % respectively. Significant point of the case study is the total Absorptions that had been calculated to cover almost the 52 % of the total Emissions.