WineGB Carbon Calculator

In the Report you will see a reference to Confidence Levels in the results. This refers to how much confidence we have in the actual figures produced by the Calculator for each item, on a range from 1 to 3, where:

1 - lower confidence

2- medium

3 - high confidence

This is because some items are inherently far more reliable and understood than others. For instance, diesel or electricity is high confidence - you know how much you've used and therefore the calculation for what the emissions are is quite mathematical.

Conversely emissions from compost, or sequestration in hedgerows are difficult to be accurate with because they are biological and therefore there are a lot of variables.

We therefore have the Confidence levels to give transparency. Please bear in mind however that every emissions/sequestration factor is backed up by firm science and we aim to provide the most accurate figures available.

The scope of the Calculator is scopes 1, 2 and 3 – meaning it is comprehensive and covers direct and indirect emissions. In IPCC Livestock calculations it covers Tiers 1 and 2.

In line with other carbon calculators, we recognise that there is no one national or international standard that covers the exact requirements of a farm carbon report.

PAS 2050 is widely used to calculate the GHG emissions from various products and services. Its methodology is used in the Calculator, however its scope falls short of what is required for a complete farm carbon footprint, in that it doesn’t include Scope 3 (indirect) emissions, nor carbon sequestration. Therefore our reports are only PAS 2050 compliant for the areas of which the Standard covers.

We believe that this wider scope of the Calculator means the Farm Carbon Calculator is far more comprehensive and accurate for the user.

In the Create Report section you must choose which farming, growing or business type your business falls under. For WineGB members this means only filling in either Vineyard or Winery.

The pages and input boxes afterwards are specially tailored according to which one you select, so for that reason please only select either 'Vineyard' or 'Winery'.

Yes, it makes sense. If you are both a vinegrower and wine producer, do two separate calculations because the processes are quite distinct.

It will also help when we do anonymised benchmarking data for WineGB.

You will need to enter data about your business and through the Calculator we convert this in to a carbon footprint. We ask you for details about the following areas of your business:

• Fuels, electricity and business travel

• Materials, machinery and buildings

• Cropping and fertility (vineyards only)

• Inputs - i.e. fertilisers and sprays (vineyards only)

• Waste and recycling

• Distribution

• Carbon sequestration in soils and biomass (vineyards only)

• Processing inputs and processes (wineries only)

Once you have the information, you fill in your data in our Carbon Calculator. To do this follow the instructions in the video on the Calculator home page, or use the How to Guide.

This depends on how complex your business is and how organised your records are! The longest part is collating your data in the first place, which could take anything from two or three hours to a whole day. However, once you know where to get the data needed, subsequent times are much quicker.

Filling in data to the Calculator itself is straight forward once you have the necessary data, between around 30 mins and 2 hours.

It will show you the total carbon emissions and carbon offsets, expressed as tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), percentage of total emissions/sequestration, and the carbon balance of your business.

The results also show full detail of the emissions/offsets for every item you enter in the Calculator. Live results also appear as you enter in data, enabling you to compare the results of different items.

Results are shown in varying levels of detail, highlight emissions hotspots, show Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, emissions of CO2e, nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4).