Confronting Climate Change :: The Basics

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Why Agriculture? The agriculture sector's role in the local GDP is substantial. Agricultural exports comprise 7% of South Africa's total exports, generating more than R26-billion in foreign income; the sector accounts for nearly one million jobs (about 7.5% of the country's total employment) and contributed about 15% to South Africa's GDP if its links with the food and beverage manufacturing industries are taken into account. Long-term economic growth of the sector is dependent on increasing South Africa's share of the global market, particularly in fruit and wine, the sector's largest exports. Maintaining and increasing employment in this sector and thus alleviating poverty is also dependent on export growth. However, the success and productivity of agricultural sector is defined by a myriad of interactions between climatic and biotic systems. And as such, farming practices are notoriously sensitive to changes in weather patterns, particularly changes in ambient temperature, in certain climatic variables such as "chill units" per year, and the seasonality of rainfall. Such climatic changes have already been felt for the past few years and the predictions for Africa indicate an intensification of unpredictability of change. Currently, the sector contributes 5% to South Africa's greenhouse gas emission profile, mainly through land-use change, the use of agri-chemicals and fossil fuels for electricity generation. At a global scale, however, agriculture contributes the significant figure of ¼ of the GHG emissions. As a result there is now increasing focus on the carbon "footprint" of agricultural produce, particularly among environmentally aware consumers in the developed countries. If South Africa wants to compete and expand in these markets, it is crucial that its agricultural products can be measured in terms of the carbon "cost" they pose to the environment. Responding to climate is therefore not only about mitigation, which is actively reducing GHG emissions through activities that are non-fossil fuel based for example, but is also about having the knowledge to better adapt to the inevitable changes that will impact on the productivity and competiveness of the South African fruit and wine sector.
Why Agriculture?
Welcome to the first industry-wide carbon footprinting tool for the South African fruit and wine sector. This tool is an interactive, workable instrument which aims to guide you in a step-by-step process to calculate the carbon footprint of your farm, business or enterprise. How to get started - step-by-step Download and acquaint yourself with the Protocol document, which outlines all the information you will be required to provide. Register yourself and use the log-on mechanism (username & password) to open up the calculator tool. Enter data per farm or business unit and per auditing year as defined by you. Follow the logical step-by-step process to enter the data. Use the help functions to clarify any uncertainties. If you find that you cannot finish the calculation, you will be able to resume your session where you left off. Once you have completed the data entry process, you will be prompted to click process. Please allow some time for the calculations to be computed, after which your results should be available for you to view, download and print. And THATS IT! It's simple! Technical Do you want to understand the calculator tool and what is behind the data crunching? Download the Protocol and User Guide (link to the document) for all the information you require. Please contact us directly should you be interested in more information. Provided you have all the information at hand, the process should take you no longer than 30 minutes to complete. FAQ's Why should I take the time to do this? The aim of using the calculator is to establish your baseline emissions, from which you can assess where your greatest emissions occur, and evaluate how to better streamline your systems and improve efficiency while reducing risk going forward. Will other users be able to see my information? By using the secure Username and Password log-in system, no-one else will be able to view or edit your information. Your information will be stored in its generic format (i.e. no personal or business names will be used, only growing region, commodity type and emission profile) and will be used by the project team for industry-based analyses. Will the information be used for other purposes? The data will be analysed for the benchmarking exercise, which will enable the industry to gain an accurate view of where South Africa's fruit and wine export industry sits in the market place in relation to the international competitors. It will also be used to establish industry trends and to set realistic emission reduction goals and targets that will be reported on in the Strategic Framework for the industry. What will I get at the end of the calculator exercise? You will be able to view and download the results of your carbon audit in terms of tonnes of carbon per tonne produced/exported, tonnes of carbon emitted per section of the supply chain, as well broad-level recommendations in terms of emission reduction opportunities outlined by your audit. Information will be provided on how to take the next steps and who to contact. Comparisons with other calculators & standards The South African Fruit and Wine Industry calculator is based on reviewed and accepted international standards, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the ISO 14064 and the PAS 2050. Each is briefly explained- please go to the websites and read the Protocol for more detail. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is a WRI/WBCSD initiative and is currently the most widely used international accounting tools. The Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standards provides step-by-step guidance for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. Currently the GHG Protocol is believed to represent "best practice", owing to the fact that it is consistent with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines, has had intensive review of the tools, and the incorporated valuable inputs from various international companies, organisations and individual experts. The International Organisation of Standards published the ISO 14064 Greenhouse Gases Standard in 2006. It is made up of three parts- ISO 14064 Part 1 and 2 are based on and fully compatible with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Project Accounting Protocol and Guidelines respectively, while ISO 14064 Part 3 outlines specifications on validation and verification of carbon project development which is not covered in the GHG Protocol. The British Standards Institute released the Publically Available Specification 2050:2008 (PAS 2050) in October 2008, which detailed guidelines for the assessment of the life cycle GHG emissions associated with goods and services. Two scales of assessment are outlined; a business-to-business (cradle to gate) and business-to-consumer (cradle to grave) scale. The data requirement is more time and labour intensive, however the detailed analysis offers results in terms of embodied carbon per product. In addition, the GHG Protocol is currently developing its own standard for Product and Supply Chain accounting and reporting, which is closely aligned with the PAS 2050 and is due for publication by mid 2010. The South African Fruit & Wine Industry Initiative is working in close collaboration with the various standard organisations to ensure alignment and uniformity, which is vital in the fast-changing environment of GHG accounting and reporting. There are several carbon calculators out there. We have reviewed the most relevant below. The International Wine Carbon Calculator was developed through international collaboration of wine industries of South Africa, California, Australia and New Zealand. It is aligned with the GHG Protocol but has been specifically designed to include detailed analysis of the various processes relevant to the wine industry, thereby allowing for a individual product level assessment. The Calculator and Protocol document are downloadable on various websites in the form of a macro-enable Excel spreadsheet and .pdf document respectively. South African public benefit organization Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) offer an online calculator which is aimed at the corporate level, covering aspects of air and motor travel, electricity usage, paper usage. The carbon footprint results are equated to the quantity of trees required to offset the emissions, and is aimed at promoting the FTFA tree planting programme. It is based on the ISO 14064 Standard and is The Climate Action Partnership (CAP) calculator is a South African based carbon footprint calculator which is aimed at the individual household user. It covers electricity usage, emissions from personal fires, fuel used through personal transport (both road and flights), and quantities of waste produced on a per person per household basis. The South African Fruit & Wine Industry Calculator and Protocol aims to combine the most up-to-date and scientifically rigorous methods for accounting the GHG emissions within the supply chain of the fruit and wine industries of South Africa. It is a web-based, easy to use calculator which allows the user to define their boundaries and auditing period, and provides their results in different formats to be downloaded and recorded as the user sees fit. Although high level mitigation options will be offered relevant to the users emission profile and audit results, the calculator does not provide a verified carbon stamp and is not intended to be a carbon neutral mechanism.


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