From One Winery to the World: How IWCA is Standardizing Wine Industry Carbon Accounting

What if the hardest part of carbon accounting isn't the methodology — it's getting the right people to own the data? Fran Estartus, Operations Manager at the International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA), has spent nearly a decade building expertise in wine industry carbon accounting. Before joining IWCA, she built the carbon program at VSPT Wine Group in Chile. Now she works with winery members representing 3.5% of global wine production across every continent. In this episode, Fran and Aaron cover: Why carbon inventory failures are usually accountability problems, not methodology problems The most overlooked Scope 3 risk for wine producers: purchased grapes and bulk wine IWCA's new soil organic carbon sequestration standardization initiative What separates wineries with robust, audit-ready inventories from those that struggle Why "perfect can be the enemy of good" — and how to build a system designed to improve over time How IWCA members share emissions data and best practices openly, despite being marketplace competitors Fran's implementation minute: spend 30 minutes mapping who owns the data for each major emission source. Carbon accounting becomes dramatically easier when data ownership is clear — and the 80/20 rule gets you most of the way there. Connect with Fran: LinkedIn — Fran Estartus Learn more about IWCA: iwcawine.org (free GHG calculator available for download) Brought to you by North Star Carbon & Impact — the carbon and sustainability management platform for sustainability professionals. Visit northstarcarbon.com.