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Champagne Producers Plan to Reduce Carbon Emissions by Lightening the Weight of Their Bottles

By Vincent J. Mangini

Will There Be Enough Room Left on the Bottle to Advertise Their Green Credentials?

Recently, the New York Times published on-line an article in its Energy & Environment section regarding a movement among champagne producers in France to make their bottles about 2.3 ounces lighter.  According to the New York Times article, this reduction in bottle weight will lower the carbon dioxide that the champagne industry produces from the transportation of their product - possibly as much as 8,000 metric tons of emissions each year.  'The move comes as efforts to reduce carbon output and improve vineyard ecology are accelerating worldwide, as wine houses reduce packaging, pesticides, water use and transportation. In California, for example, winegrowers are promoting what their trade group, the Wine Institute, says are nearly 230 ‘green practices' including methods to cut carbon emissions.' 

It will be interesting to see just how these champagne and wine producers communicate to the consuming public in the United States the contributions they are making to energy efficiency. In the increasingly competitive and often technically complicated green market, advertising products and services with environmental attributes in a way that is clear and understandable is no easy task and may become even more challenging once the Federal Trade Commission releases its new Green Guides. 

Full post as published by New Jersey Law Blog on September 02, 2010 (boomark / email).