Sustainability
Sustainability policy
Castello di Albola bases its operations on the principles of sustainable development. The company is committed to actively contributing to economic progress, social welfare and the protection of the environment in which it operates, conducting its activities in accordance with the principles set out below. This sustainability policy is intended to supplement the company’s Code of Ethics adopted on 04/11/2015, of which revision No. 01 dated 09/12/20 was approved by the BoD on 18/01/2021
Ethics and Responsibility
Castello di Albola is committed to conducting its activities in accordance with ethical, professional and legal standards, integrating economic, social and environmental aspects in its decision-making and control processes.
Sustainable Growth
Castello di Albola is committed to offering its customers services and products with high added value, which contribute to improving the well-being of the territory and the communities in the surrounding areas.
Shared Development
Castello di Albola intends to grow by adopting a business and operational model aimed at creating value for its members, through the pursuit of objectives of financial soundness, profitability and sustainability in the long term.
Ethics and Responsibility
Castello di Albola is committed to conducting its activities in accordance with ethical, professional and legal standards, integrating economic, social and environmental aspects in its decision-making and control processes.
Excellence and Innovation
Castello di Albola actively collaborates with its partners to develop the best production processes and employ the best available technological solutions in order to fully meet customers’ expectations.
Protecting and valuing people
Castello di Albola is committed to creating stimulating and dynamic work environments in which the protection of health and safety, respect for diversity, human rights and professional development are priorities, allowing it to attract and retain the best talent, and ensuring the achievement of the company’s present and future goals.
Involvement of the supply chain
Castello di Albola aims to promote the adoption of sustainability practices among its suppliers in order to continuously improve the overall performance of its activities and contribute to the spread of sustainable development principles in the wine sector.
Socio-economic development of territories
Castello di Albola adopts a model of operation oriented toward contributing to the growth of the areas in which it operates, through the creation of new employment, professional training, employment of local suppliers, and initiatives that support the community.
Environmental safeguards and protection
Castello di Albola conducts its activities by identifying the best solutions in the technical and organizational sphere in order to limit potential negative effects on the environment as much as possible, contributing to the reutilization of waste products through its activities.
Dialogue and Transparency
Castello di Albola is committed to developing and maintaining robust and lasting relationships with its stakeholders, paying attention to their legitimate expectations and adopting appropriate forms of involvement.
Sustainability Report
Castello di Albola prepares this Sustainability Report with the aim of reporting on the activities carried out in the field of sustainability and describing the achieved objectives and the plans adopted for improvements. Learn more at the following link: Castello di Albola’s Sustainability Report.
The certification was issued by Equalitas, an Italian body founded in 2015 that promotes sustainability in the agrifood sector, and wine in particular, through a systemic vision capable of uniting the needs of companies, society and the market. The main objective is to define, structure and share a unique and shared approach to sustainability based on its three fundamental pillars. Thanks to its technical, cultural, scientific and political resources, EQUALITAS intends to bring together the best initiatives of established and innovative best practices, to establish an Italian model of sustainable quality at a global level. The EQUALITAS Scientific Committee, composed of distinguished members of the technical and scientific community in the sector, guarantees the continuous adoption of the standard according to the most advanced knowledge available, also acting as an impartiality committee for the management of the standard itself. This objectivity and transparency are fundamental for the authority of the EQUALITAS ethic, as an added guarantee for the consumer. The EQUALITAS-Sustainable Wine standard allows companies in the sector to adopt an internal Sustainability Management System and to publish an Annual Sustainability Report, guaranteeing their stakeholders continuous improvement of their sustainability standards.
Life Viticase
Precisely in line with this sustainable vision, Castello di Albola has joined LIFE VitiCaSe: a project with unique characteristics in Europe and globally pioneering in Carbon Farming in viticulture. This project involves a series of agricultural and soil management practices aimed at increasing the ecosystem’s capacity to capture and retain atmospheric carbon.
The LIFE VitiCaSe Project has received funding from the European Union’s Life Program Project 101113620 — LIFE22-CCA-IT-LIFE VitiCaSe – “Viticulture for Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration.”
Details and disclaimer at life-viticase.eu.
The project’s objectives?
Increase agricultural carbon stocks in the soil
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Contribute to climate change mitigation
Image Line is leading the project, which includes a network of research centres such as CREA Agriculture and Environment (CREA-AA) and CREA Policies and Bioeconomy (CREA-PB), several wineries in Tuscany and Veneto, farmers’ associations, innovative SMEs, and consulting firms.
The project's activities include:
Creation of a database on agronomic practices;
Development of a reliable and certifiable computer tool for estimating carbon stocks;
Validation of the system through field analysis;
Implementation of the system in 4 pilot vineyards from 3 farms (Castello di Albola, Poderi Ducali Ruffino, and Società Agricola San Felice);
Certification of Carbon Credits with the support of Carbon Credit Consulting, their notarisation via blockchain, and placement on trading platforms;
Monitoring of technical and economic results;
Transfer and replication of the system.
A digital platform integrating the most innovative algorithms based on international standards shared by the scientific community will facilitate the correct management of agricultural practices and the calculation of carbon stored in the soil, to quantify it and enable the certification of Carbon Credits.
