Presentation on the 61st German Winegrowers Congress, Stuttgart, April, 2013

1. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosyst ems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Nuno Gaspar de Oliveira (speaker), Paulo Bessa & João Rui Ferreira
1CIGEST|Environment & Sustainability – ISG Business & Economics School,
2CORTICEIRA AMORIM, SGPS, S.A
3CE LIÈGE, Confédération Européenne du Liège

2. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

3. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

4. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
Where screw caps
come from
Bauxite (Aluminum) mining

5. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

6. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
Where synthetic
stoppers come from
Oil (plastic) extraction

7. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

8. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
Where Cork
comes from
Cork Oak Forests and Parklands

9. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

10. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

11. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
http://www.celiege.com/

12. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
BRUSSELS – 3 November 2011.
Representatives of environmental NGO’s, the
European Commission, The World Business
Council for Sustainable Development,
retailers and retailer trade associations and
EUROPEN’s corporate members were among
stakeholders involved in shaping and endorsing
the contents of the Green Paper.
seven key questions:
• material selection,
• packaging design,
• consumer choice,
• transport,
• end-of-life,
• communication along the value chain
• innovative business models.

13. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

14. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
• “After a five year trial of screwcap it has
become clear that cork is best for our wines.”
• “Our wines are handmade and bottled without
fining or filtration. Under a screwcap I have
noticed the wines ‘sweat’, producing overly
dominant reductive characters, a problem
we have never had under cork.”
• “When I saw Rusden losing customers
because of this, I realised something needed to
be done”
Christian Canute (Barossa Valley winery)

15. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
• Though you might be surprised, natural cork wine stoppers are the best choice,
primarily because harvesting the real stuff is an age-old practice that keeps
the world’s relatively small population of cork oak trees, which can live for
hundreds of years, alive. These scattered pockets of cork oaks, mostly in Portugal
and Spain, thrive in the hot, arid conditions of the southern Mediterranean, sheltering
a wide array of biodiversity and helping to protect the soil from drying out.
• As wine producers switch to other types of wine stoppers, the cork oak forests
could be abandoned and the trees and the myriad plants and animals that
depend on them could die out.

16. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
• Cork closures represent a specificity of the wine sector and its use has an important
impact in the sustainable conservation of forest. Because of this important role, carbon
balance of corks may be taken into account when applying the EP.
• When accounting the GHG emissions related to natural cork closures, the cork production
system should be considered from a holistic approach.
• The final figures of the GHG emissions due to the cork production should consider the
managed forest it comes from and its carbon sink effect.

17. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
• Quantify and compare the environmental impacts of cork stoppers
versus aluminium and plastic closures on the UK market of wine.
• The survey was carried out using the methodology of life cycle
analysis (LCA) and from bibliographic sources, complemented using
the Ecobilan LCA database.
• The survey was carried out in conformance with the ISO 14040
series of standards.
• Seven indicators: non-renewable energy consumption; water
consumption; emission of greenhouse gases; contribution to
atmospheric acidification; contribution to the formation of
photochemical oxidants (ozone layer depletion); contribution to the
eutrophication of surface water and production of solid waste.

18. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira
submit it to a critical review by an independent committee
including external experts and interested parties:
• An independent life cycle analysis (LCA) expert (Yvan Liziard);
• An independent specialist on cork (João Santos Pereira,
Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisboa);
• Plastic association (Association of Plastics Manufacturers in
Europe).
Besides these entities, an aluminium association was also
contacted, but did not accept to cooperate in the review process.

19. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

20. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

21. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

22. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

23. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

24. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

25. S a v i n g
E n e r g y ,
Ecosystems
a n d W i n e
A closure on the cork
debate
Oliveira (speaker), Bessa & Ferreira

26. Let’s ‘face’ it
Cork is just
Naturally better!
Cork Art by Scott Gundersen
Speaker: Nuno Gaspar de Oliveira
ISG – Business & Economics School
nunogoliveira@cigest.ensinus.pt | +351 21 751 37 00 ext. 127
Linkedin: ngoliveira | Facebook: CIGEST, NGOLIVEIRA