SA fruit industry to develop ‘carbon calculator’

SOUTH AFRICA’S fruit and wine
industries have embarked on a
ground-breaking project to address
the issues of climate
change and its impact on doing
business.
First step in the research project
initiated last month and co-ordinated
by the Deciduous Fruit Producers'
Trust will be to publish a 10-page
summary of the key issues that relate
to climate change and the impact on
the fruit and wine industries. “This
will provide a base-line document
to get everyone on the same page,”
Hugh Campbell, DFPT general
manager, told FTW.
And that’s likely to be out in the
next two months.
The key objective, however, is to
develop an industry-based carbon
calculator that will look into key
aspects in the development of the
boundaries – in other words what
will be included or excluded in the
measurement.
“We will meet at end of the
month to take that further and
should have our first concept by
January,” he said.
The idea is to get the fruit and
wine industries looking at the
same issues so that a tool can be
developed that everyone can use.
“There’s a fair amount of
negotiation around that,” said
Campbell. “What South Africa
does needs to be benchmarked
against internationally accepted
standards. We will also be looking at
benchmarking our carbon footprint
against competing countries,” he said.
According to Citrus Research
International, there has been a
proliferation of carbon calculators,
making it difficult to compare ‘apples
with apples’.
The demand to lower the
carbon intensity of doing business
and the emergence of carbon as a
tradable commodity has significant
implications for the SA fruit and wine
export industries where ‘food miles’,
‘carbon footprint’ of competing
countries, the impact for climate
change at a regional level and the
opportunity for carbon offset projects
are all areas of focus.
Since there is currently no single
reputable information resource
available to the SA fruit and wine
export industries, a unified approach
was seen as necessary.
Major funder of the research is
the Regional Standards Program
(RSP) of the ComMark Trust, which
is funded by the UK’s Department
for International Development to
help SADC countries and firms meet
international food quality and safety
standards for agri-business products.