International Wineries for Climate Action
CARBON
CONFIDENCE HIGH · ANALYSIS ONLY, NOT AN AUDIT OR CERTIFICATION
Our read
IWCA is not a wine quality or farming standard. It is a climate accounting club, and on that narrow ground it asks for more than almost any other scheme in the drinks sector: a full Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory, built to ISO 14064-1, checked by an ISO 14064-3 or CDP accredited auditor, with an annual audit summary filed to keep standing. Very few food and beverage marks require verified Scope 3 at all, which is what makes IWCA useful as a signal of buyer and regulator readiness. The common misreading is to treat IWCA membership as proof of low emissions. At Silver tier it proves the winery has measured and had that measurement checked, and has committed to 2050 Net Zero with 2030 interim targets. It does not certify that emissions have fallen. Two boundary points matter for a reader: only 90% of company volume in the region of the main winery must be covered, and IWCA publishes no record of suspensions or removals, so lapsed compliance is not visible from outside. Nothing in the standard touches soil, water, biodiversity, agrochemicals or labour.
What it covers
- third-party verified Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG inventory
- inventory built to ISO 14064-1 and the WRI GHG Protocol
- verification by an ISO 14064-3 or CDP accredited auditor
- coverage of 90% of company volume in the region of the main winery
- committed Net Zero across Scopes 1-2-3 by 2050 with 2030 interim targets
- all refrigerant emissions in Scope 1, including non-Kyoto gases
- downstream retail and consumer wine-cooling energy in Scope 3
- Audit Summary Form filed with IWCA yearly, or every other year for smaller wineries
What it leaves out
Not a criticism of the scheme. A standard is a scope, and this is where this one ends.
- no minimum absolute emissions reduction required at Silver tier
- no onsite renewable energy threshold below Gold tier
- volume outside the main winery's region can sit outside the inventory boundary
- no vineyard soil health, biodiversity or water criteria
- no pesticide or agrochemical restrictions
- no labour, wage or farmworker safety criteria
- no packaging or circularity requirement beyond its emissions weight
- auditors may alternatively qualify on 'proven GHG audit experience' rather than formal accreditation
- no published suspension or removal register
The scheme
| Issued by | International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA), a member-led collective founded 2019 by Familia Torres and Jackson Family Wines; Meridian Institute acts as fiscal sponsor and secretariat |
|---|---|
| Where it applies | Global |
| Audit and renewal | Annual Audit Summary Form to IWCA (every other year for smaller wineries); applicant members must complete and third-party audit a Scopes 1-2-3 baseline within one year of joining |
| Cost | Not published. Meridian Institute administers applicant fees and member dues; amounts are not disclosed publicly. |
What we read
IWCA public membership requirements, protocols and standards, and auditor pages as published July 2026; no versioned standard document is issued publicly
- what_it_covers - Silver tier inventory and verification requirements — You have completed a baseline, third-party verified GHG emissions inventory across Scopes 1, 2, and 3.
- what_it_covers - boundary and auditor accreditation — Covering 90% of company volume in the region of main winery ... Verified by ISO-14064-3 accredited or CDP accredited auditor
- what_it_covers - net zero commitment — You are committed to becoming Net Zero by no later than 2050 across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 and meet intermediate targets by 2030.
- what_it_covers - ISO standards used — verified to the ISO-14064-1 standard, working with an ISO-14064-3-accredited auditor
- what_it_covers - refrigerants and retail cooling exceptions to GHG Protocol — all refrigerant emissions in their Scope 1 calculations ... all emissions related to the energy consumed at the shop/supermarket
- renewal_period and auditor alternative route — The Form should be submitted to IWCA yearly (or every other year, depending on a winery's size)
- issuer - Meridian Institute secretariat and fees — Meridian is the fiscal sponsor and secretariat of International Wineries for Climate Action
- applicant tier one-year window — You will complete and third-party audit a baseline Scopes 1-2-3 inventory within one year.
What we could not establish
IWCA publishes no versioned standard PDF; the requirements live on the website, so a reader cannot pin a claim to a dated document. Membership dues are administered by Meridian Institute but not published. No suspension, downgrade or removal register could be found, and the public pages do not describe a sanction process. The auditor page permits a fallback route for auditors with 'proven GHG audit experience meeting national/sub-national standards' rather than ISO 14064-3 or CDP accreditation; how often that route is used is not disclosed. Third-party summaries of IWCA member counts conflict; the members page itself is the reliable count.
If you hold this certification, it is already on your record. What a buyer cannot see there yet is the evidence behind the parts this standard does not reach.