1. Sustainable Winegrowing NZ (SWNZ)
Justine Tate – Business Manager, Sustainability
New Zealand Winegrowers

2. Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ)
Established in 1995
A world–leading programme in the industry
2,035 members (1,755 vineyards, 195 wineries, 86 brands)
20 + years of experience in this
Broad scope of programme covers environment, social & financial aspects of sustainability.
Full industry participation
Certification granted annually based on meeting the criteria
Independently audited first year and every 3 years
Sustainability policy is 100% sustainably accredited grapes
100% sustainably accredited winery
100% sustainably accredited bottler
The reasons we were started all those years ago are still relevant today:
Enhance sustainability of the wine industry
Support consumer perceptions of NZ produce
Avoid barriers to trade
Gain production efficiencies thru shared best practice

3. 98% Producing vineyard area
of New Zealand’s producing vineyard area is certified Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand
Participation in Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand rose to almost 100% between the launch of the policy and the target date of % or more of New Zealand’s producing vineyard area is now Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand certified.
A further 5-7% of vineyard area operates under certified organic programmes.
98% of New Zealand’s producing vineyard area is Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand certified.
A further 5-7% of vineyard area operates under certified organic programmes.

4. People - SWNZ
Accredited members of contractors association Comply with immigration & employment law Hold current RSE status Maintain staff training & induction records Meet health & safety regulations Maintain incident reports Documented employment contracts
Auditing to verify that they are meeting regulatory responsibilities
A bit of Work force & workplace stuff in there
Challenges we face:
Assumption that New Zealand Employment law is generally pretty good and we have traded on that.
Majority of our industry’s workforce is engaged through contractors
- adds a level of complexity
- requires transparency, feedback from vineyards is that they don’t know the questions to ask.
We have just created a checklist that provides guidance around engaging a contractor
Attraction of young people into the industry
Growers & wineries on the same page
SWNZ will not stay static and stated intent is to raise the bar for industry

5. SWNZ Continuous Improvement
A new extension to the SWNZ programme
Based on the SWNZ pillar structure
Each pillar has an aspirational industry goal
Currently in progress
Biodiversity
Soil, water, air
Energy
Plant health
Waste management
People
Business practices
SWNZ CI developed for SWNZ members who want to do more in the sustainability space or who are currently doing more and want to be recognized for it.
Already said we are a world leading programme, like the RSE programme and similarly we recognized that even although we are world leading standing still means being overtaken, so we needed to be continuously improving.
Led us on a journey to think about our next ambitious sustainability goals for the industry in years time and to gather together best practice to follow to get the industry there.
All of the pillars have been developed and are being printed as we speak, except for the last two on the screen which are currently in development.

6. The People/Social Pillar – Continuous Improvement
Beyond good employment practice - contractor accreditation? - attraction & training of staff - pastoral care Social licence to operate - global - community Socially responsible practices - standard alcohol units, pregnancy labelling, Cheers!
People or Social pillar, currently in development.
One of the hardest to define as people impact on all of our sustainability pillars. Training & engaging staff appears in every pillar.
Also quite difficult to develop metrics around social stuff to make it measurable.
Aspirational goal for the industry – to serve society, which is what businesses & industry does, but that sounds a bit like we are pouring them a drink. To strengthen the cohesion and resilience of our local communities – which I like better, but doesn’t capture all of it.
Still in discussion so let me know if you have any ideas!
When it comes to the development of the people pillar within our continuous Improvement programme it gives us the opportunity to go beyond good employment practice
There is a lot happening in this space So much of what we do is driven by our markets
Europe, UK & USA retailers really driving change in this space putting pressure on their supply chains and we want to be a platform that meets that need for our members.
This pillar is important for us as it’s about mitigating risk around social practice & the stakes are high with NZ wine fast heading towards $2b exports annually. Like most NZ exporters imagine what would happen
We have an opportunity to explore a number of different areas and set the bar high in terms of best practice. Take learnings from other industries & programmes.
The really exciting thing is People are asking for this from us, developed with members
Community initiatives – tui to town, falcon trust, biodiversity.

7. Thank you!