Virgin Wines has achieved carbon neutral status, becoming the first online wine retailer to do so.
The direct-to-consumer beverage seller achieved ‘PAS 2060 standard’ – an internationally recognised standard which requires companies to reduce their emissions each year moving forward, rather than just offsetting.
Virgin Wines cut its emissions by 40% by improving efficiencies in shipping wine to the UK from around the world. It also reduced the weight of glass and cardboard packaging, including a 30% reduction in the packaging of its advent calendars.
The online wine seller also looked to its warehouses to make improvements. The company installed a new warehouse management system to remove printed dispatch notes from deliveries and chose super-efficient LED lighting which cut energy consumption by 50%.
Virgin Wines stressed that this is just the first step on its sustainability journey. It has also submitted an application to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) and has set science-based targets to reduce carbon emissions further. This target will be aligned to the 1.5ºC scenario as promoted by the Paris Agreement. Its target is to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% by 2030.
“While our focus is on creating great quality wines, we also want to have a positive impact on our planet and meet customers’ desires to shop with more sustainable businesses,” said Jay Wright, Virgin Wines CEO.
“Whilst being a carbon neutral business is a fantastic achievement, we understand that this is only the first step within our journey to reduce our carbon emissions, and we’re pleased to share our goal of becoming Net Zero by 2045.”
Virgin Wines will be reporting its sustainability progress on annual basis going forward, with the 2022 report now available.
