LIFE CLIMAWIN

The LIFE CLIMAWIN project addresses the problem of climate change by involving the wine sector in its mitigation. Wineries and vineyards will transform themselves by adopting a range of  climate change mitigation actions including emissions reduction, carbon capture and use, sustainable land use in agriculture and forestry, and avoidance of fossil fuels and fluorinated gases.

The main objective of the project is to show that wineries and vineyards can become models of sustainability, encouraging them to adopt measures to tackle climate change including mitigation, adaptation and the circular economy.

The specific objectives are to:
- Assess the impact and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of land use change from traditional cereal mono-cropping to organically managed vineyards combined with forestry.
- Achieve long-term carbon storage in soil by reusing vineyard pruning and residues from forestry management as biochar. Biochar will be used to control GHG emissions from manure management and will finally end up in the soil together with manure, ensuring long term carbon sequestration.
- Introduce two innovative techniques to reduce emissions caused by refrigeration in wineries, avoiding the purchase of CO2 and the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). This will be done a) by capturing the CO2 produced by alcoholic fermentation and using it for refrigeration and b) using irrigation water to increase the efficiency of heat pumps for cooling fermentation vats and winery premises.
- Reduce the emissions associated with energy use in wineries and vineyards, greatly increasing the proportion of renewable energy consumed. A microgrid will be configured, whose energy flows will be managed in a smart and advanced way by a controller device specifically designed for the winery and vineyard. Thus the use of fossil fuels will be drastically reduced.
- Facilitate the way winery managers can identify the most effective and efficient mitigation measures, and to promote their application, by providing comprehensive analyses and guidelines for decision makers.