Prestigious award recognizes extraordinary leadership in addressing climate crisis
Santa Rosa, CALIF (March 6, 2020) – Jackson Family Wines, a family-owned and led wine company with such celebrated wineries as Kendall-Jackson, Stonestreet Estate Vineyards, and Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, received the Organizational Leadership Award at the ninth annual 2020 Climate Leadership Conference on March 5th in Detroit, Michigan. Recognized for its exemplary leadership and commitment to mitigating the severity of the climate crisis, Jackson Family Wines is the first wine company to receive this honor.
The award was presented by The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), a nonprofit, bipartisan organization working to advance strong policy and action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as The Climate Registry (TCR), a nonprofit that assists organizations in measuring, reporting, and verifying their carbon emissions through voluntary and compliance GHG reporting programs.
“It’s a privilege receive this honor,” said Katie Jackson, senior vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility and second-generation proprietor. “At Jackson Family Wines, our commitment to reduce our impacts on shared natural resources, preserve biodiversity, and pioneer climate solutions is core to my family’s leadership in environmental stewardship. We’re proud to lead meaningful change that will help restore the health of the planet through responsible winemaking practices.”
“Planning for long-term prosperity means accounting for climate impacts and a decarbonized economy,” said Bob Perciasepe, president of The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). “The only way to take advantage of the clean energy transition is to be clear-eyed about climate challenges. Jackson Family Wines has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the clean energy economy.
The Organizational Leadership Award acknowledges Jackson Family Wines’ groundbreaking partnership with Spain’s Familia Torres winery to form International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA), a collaborative working group with a mission to develop strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change through decarbonization of the global wine industry. IWCA’s objective is for all members to reduce Scopes 1-3 emissions 50 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2045.
The award also recognizes Jackson Family Wines for:
- Creating the largest solar generation portfolio in the American wine industry, with 7.1 MW of solar PV systems at 11 wineries, or approximately 23,000 solar panels producing 9.2 million kWh. An additional 4MW will be added in 2020 to ensure the company’s operations are powered by at least 50 percent renewable energy.
- Developing an innovative carbon farming pilot program to explore the impacts of sequestering carbon in the soil and plants of a working vineyard through photosynthesis and biological activity.
- Watershed stewardship, including the protection of endangered fish populations by releasing irrigation reservoir water to low-level streams during drought, and intentionally flooding vineyard to allow water to fill aquifers through groundwater recharge.
- Funding research at the University of California, Davis on an innovative solution to capture carbon dioxide and ethanol emissions from grape fermentation during harvest.
As the foremost U.S. wine company leading climate solutions, Jackson Family Wines continues to build an agricultural heritage and foster a sustainable, healthy wine community. The company will formally announce its 2030 Resiliency Goals later this year, with goals focused in four key areas: emissions reductions, water conservation and reuse, land conservation and social impact.
