Will the vineyard be able to survive climate change?

The vineyard is somewhat similar to the canaries that miners used to carry with them when they went down to the mine when there was a danger of firedamp: if the canary suffocated, you had to go outside quickly.

Every year we suffer the consequences of climate change in the form of more frequent hailstorms, heat strokes that dry the leaves and even the bunches, spring frosts..., but this year all records have been broken and viticulture is becoming more and more more and more difficult.

Although many winemakers try to adapt, in our case moving the vineyards to higher altitudes or planting more resistant varieties, this is no guarantee for the future and we begin to wonder what climate we will have and what our viticulture will be like in 10 years.

At the moment, in the current vineyards we are managing to delay the ripening of the grapes, and this explains why we can continue to maintain quality.

When possible, irrigation is used;

can also reduce the vegetative cover, that is, the surface of the leaves exposed to sunlight and wind.

If this plant cover is reduced to 50%, the harvests are considerably delayed, as less photosynthesis occurs;

I recently read Daniel Kanheman, who said that: “Homo sapiens is not capable of dealing with climate change: It is an amorphous message, which has no borders or borders.

It is not immediate, as was the covid-19 pandemic, for example.

There is no single culprit, as one might think in the case of recent armed conflicts.

We do not want to assume costs or sacrifices, and even, for many, climate change seems uncertain and even debatable.

At this point it seems impossible to achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in temperatures to 1.5 degrees or maximum 2 at the end of the 21st century.

We continue to have a huge dependence on fossil fuels, and 81% of the total world energy demand for primary energy corresponds to oil, coal, and gas.

In the case of oil, consumption exceeds 100 million barrels per day.

And in addition, oil companies receive subsidies on a global scale, of the order of 400,000 million dollars in order to avoid the increase in inflation.

But perhaps there is still reason for cautious optimism, if immediate solutions are applied.

Planting trees is, today, the most effective thing that can be done to reduce the greenhouse gases (GHG) that we have in the atmosphere, and that come mainly from the combustion of gasoline, coal and gas.

It would be necessary to plant 500,000 million trees to reduce these GHG by 25%, which amounted to 421 ppm (parts per million) at the end of last year against 270 ppm at the end of the 19th century.

Many countries are making efforts in this direction, as well as many companies.

In our case, we want to plant 2 million trees in the coming years, especially in Chile, where we have extensive farms, and also in Spain.

In the vineyards, “regenerative viticulture” makes it possible to avoid soil erosion and even store approximately 1 ton of carbon/ha.

Progress is also being made in the capture of CO₂ from industry, to store it in underground tanks.

The wine industry would have a great potential for capturing CO₂ here since, throughout the fermentation of wines, a large amount of this gas is produced.

It is a CO₂ that the vineyard has previously absorbed by photosynthesis from the troposphere, from the air, and which, after fermentation, is largely emitted again.

This year in our warehouses we have already been able to store 20 tons of CO₂.

On the other hand, the diet is becoming more vegetarian.

Increased use of public transport and bicycles.

It is also understood that air travel must be reduced as much as possible, as well as replacing gasoline cars with electric cars (hopefully the charging stations will not take longer!).

The installation of photovoltaic panels in homes is becoming more frequent, and when they are available, the cost of electricity for the electric vehicle is practically zero.

But the most important thing would be missing.

There would be a lack of a political pact at the level of nations to deal seriously and effectively with climate change and its consequences.

Brussels has already done so, with its program to reach the year 2050 with a Europe that would be carbon neutral and a 55% reduction in GHG by 2030. In addition, they have provided large amounts of funds, the so-called "Next Generation" for the financing of renewable energies.

But this pact between the political forces of our country would be lacking to seriously face this problem, and make joint decisions that would automatically avoid criticism or the obtaining of advantages in the following elections.

This will certainly entail a certain decrease in the economies and will also sacrifice our way of life in some way.

For this, it would be necessary to agree

Miguel A. Torres

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