CLIMAWIN

Start date: 01 July 2023

End date: 31 December 2026

The European wine sector is one of the most affected by the threat of climate change, but it also presents great potential for big improvements in sustainability. Therefore, the CLIMAWIN project seeks to show that wineries and vineyards can become a model of sustainability, incorporating several actions against climate change, focusing on mitigation, with adaptation and circular economy measures. The project will assess the impact of land use change (from the traditional cereal mono-cropping to organically managed vineyards combined with forestry) on the GHG mitigation potential; will enhance long-term organic carbon stocks in soil, using it as carbon sink; will reduce non-CO2 emissions from livestock manure management and soils, as well as CO2 emissions from pruning and forestry residues burning, by reusing the pruning of the vineyard as biochar, to incorporate it into the soil in organic management practices (manure composting), thus improving the efficiency of Nitrogen use; will introduce two innovative techniques to reduce the emissions caused by refrigeration of wineries, avoiding the purchase of CO2 and the use of HFCs, based on carbon capture produced by alcoholic fermentation and the use of irrigation water to increase the efficiency of the heat pump for cooling the fermentation vats and the winery premises; will reduce the emissions associated with energy use in winery and vineyard, greatly increasing the renewable fraction of energy consumed; will implement a microgrid and a smart controller which will be capable of managing the energy used; will facilitate the path for winery managers to identify the most effective and efficient mitigation measures in each case, as well as promote their application; and it will show the great possibilities that the wine sector has to become a model in the fight against climate change, producing environmental and socio-economic benefits in rural areas.

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