CO2 emissions lower than retentions in cork industry

26/03/2012

Researchers verified the potential of cork as a natural, renewable and local material which helps fight against climate change. To do so researchers quantified the impact of greenhouse gas emissions through the amount of CO2 emissions which would cause the same effects, known as carbon dioxide equivalent (CDE).
 
According to the research, both the raw material and the products they are used in - natural cork for wines and corks used for champagne - present carbon fixation levels superior to those emitted during their complete life cycle, from extraction, transport, industrial process to cellar distribution and waste management. More specifically, each tonne of cork extracted from forests results in 18 tonnes of CDE; each natural cork is equivalent to 234 g of CO2; and each champagne cork has a total fixation of 12 g of CO2.
 
Catalonia's cork industry thus places itself as the first industry in Spain and one of the first globally to measure and research the carbon footprint of its industries. All calculations were made based on cork oak plantations existing in Catalonia and the main cork manufacturing industries of Catalonia. The methodology described in ISO 14040 and PAS2050:2011 guidelines were used in the study.
 
The research was presented at the Alimentaria 2012 Fair by the UAB spin-off Inèdit Innovació SL (located at the UAB Research Park) and was conducted by the research group Sostenipra of the UAB Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), in collaboration with the Catalan Cork Institute, and under the Cenit-Demeter Project (2008-2011) "Desarrollo de Estrategias y Métodos vitícolas y Enológicos frente al cambio climático. Subproyecto SA 7.2: Evaluación ambiental del sector del vino mediante el análisis de ciclo de vida (ACV) del tapón de corcho y el tapón de cava".