Pictured above (L-R): Penelope Goodsall, Sustainability Manager at Australian Vintage; Rebecca Loch, Sustainability Leader at Lion
At the 2024 Australian Drinks Awards, Australian Vintage received the Highly Commended Sustainability Award recognition for achieving B Corp Certification for its domestic operations and global brands in February 2024.
As a B Corp in the global drinks industry, the ASX-listed entity is among businesses leading the movement for an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy. Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are leading for-profit companies dedicated to using business as a force for good.
Australian Vintage joins domestic winemakers Minimum Wines and Unico Zelo, as well as purpose-driven brands Who Gives A Crap, KeepCup, Patagonia, KMD Brands (Rip Curl, Kathmandu, Oboz) and more in this new model of global business.
Australian Vintage’s award submission read: “Embedding Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) practices are fundamental to the future resilience and prosperity of the Australian wine industry. B Corp Certification is the gold standard of sustainability, Australian Vintage pursued certification to demonstrate that our business meets the highest standards of ESG and showcase positive impact at scale.”
To find out more about this fantastic achievement, we took the opportunity to chat with Penelope Goodsall, Australian Vintage’s Sustainability Manager and Communications Workstream Lead for the Drinks Association’s newly established Sustainability Council.
What does achieving B Corp Certification mean to Australian Vintage, and how does it align with your company’s long-term goals for sustainability and social responsibility?
Sustainability is a strategic priority of Australian Vintage, it runs at the core of our business. B Corp Certification endorses much of what we were already doing in the business over the last 5 years, but it also drives a new level of transparency, and a commitment to consider society and the environment in business decisions across our value chain, including how we work with our suppliers and customers. Our commitment was confirmed at our recent AGM where we changed our constitution to align further with the B Corp framework. We are in this for the long haul.
Can you elaborate on the specific environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices that contributed to Australian Vintage’s B Corp Certification, particularly those recognised as industry-leading?
At Australian Vintage, we say we are in the business of making good wine. Good for the planet, good for people and good for profit.
We are demonstrating leadership in many areas of environmental and social impact and good governance, otherwise known as ESG, and I am proud to say this is a demonstration of the team alignment we have across the organisation.
Some of our specific recent achievements include:
- Removing 1,500 tones of glass from our supply chain through adopting lighter-weight bottles, which has also aided our transport efficiencies and aligns us with the global Bottle Weight Accord;
- Transitioning to 100% recycled cardboard outers for our casks, avoiding over 42,000kg of single-use plastic being sent to landfill;
- We partnered with DrinkWise to roll out the 'Stay Tasteful while Tasting' campaign at our cellar doors, which we have found to be an engaging way to work with consumers on responsible enjoyment of alcohol.
- Australian Vintage is also an accredited Mental Health First Aid workplace by Mental Health First Aid Australia, and we have 54 mental health officers across our organisation.
Australian Vintage has mentioned a commitment to setting an example within the wine and grape sector. How do you plan to influence other organisations in the industry toward similar sustainability goals?
Our influence is one of transparent leadership. We are happy to share our challenges and successes with the industry to be an influencer of change. We have a robust reporting framework and make our achievements and progress available each year in our annual report as well as communicate through all our public company milestones.
With the achievement of B Corp Certification, what are the next steps for Australian Vintage’s sustainability and impact strategies, and are there specific targets or projects on the horizon?
B Corp certification requires continuous improvement, and you must recertify every three years demonstrating tangible business advances. It is not easy to attain; it’s an intensive and rigorous whole-of-business assessment and involves collective input from across the organisation, but we are aligning with global best practice, and we are taking ownership over our impact.
We are committed to reducing and mitigating our greenhouse gas emissions and have set an industry-leading Net Zero target of 2040 across all scopes, aligning with SBTi parameters. A big focus in 2025 is to better understand our water use and improve our supplier relations.
The biggest hurdle all companies face is the Scope 3 emissions. Much of this sits in transport and shipping. As a global business, this is a real challenge and will take the longest to tackle, as we must influence our suppliers to join us on the journey if we and other companies can ever achieve Net Zero.
Australian Vintage’s Impact Strategy includes commitments to sustainable practices, including regenerative viticulture and renewable energy. How have these initiatives impacted both your company’s operations and its surrounding environment?
All our owned and operated sites are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, Australia’s leading certification for sustainable grape growing and viniculture practices. We have also worked with our valued grower partners to aid education and support enabling certification across our supply network resulting in 92% of our 2024 vintage grape intake being certified.
We also set a target for all owned and operated sites to be powered by renewable energy by the end of 2024, and I am pleased that we are on track to achieve this. Our renewable energy program has reduced our Scope 2 emissions by 51% since our 2022 baseline year with a combination of purchasing renewable energy and leveraging our Buronga Hill Winery solar farm that we installed in 2014 and powers over 20% of our facility on an annual basis.
Our ESG commitments and our B Corp status have opened opportunities with our customers both domestically and internationally as they are looking for suppliers who can aid them in achieving their own ESG goals. Consumers are also receptive, with a recent study by B Lab showing that 85% of people have trust in the certification.
How does Australian Vintage’s team culture, including programs like paid volunteer days and a commitment to diversity, contribute to the company’s overall mission of making a positive social and environmental impact?
We are incredibly proud of our culture at Australian Vintage. Last year we were the proud recipient of the Drinks Association's Most Improved Gender Equity Award.
Our industry-leading employee benefits program enables all employees to bring their best selves to work. We have reduced our gender paygap from 9% to 5% from a baseline year of 2022 and surpassed our 2025 target of 30% female representation across our organisation, currently an average of 38%.
This year, we established our Belonging committee, a global cross-functional group of passionate socially responsible employees who are working on internal education and projects to ensure Australian Vintage is richly diverse, equitable and inclusive.
If people thrive, then our company benefits and so does the planet around us. We know from our engagement surveys our people want to be involved in the communities where they live, and we support this with paid volunteer days and flexible work.
We have an ambition to be a best employer and attract the best talent to our organisation, so together we can show there is more to good wine.
Australian Vintage is a Category One Member of the Drinks Association