WASHINGTON POST • November 8, 2021
The COP26 summit began in Glasgow on Oct. 31 with dire warnings of an impending climate catastrophe if world leaders don’t agree on drastic measures to limit carbon emissions and slow the rise in global temperatures. To which a bunch of wine writers replied, “Lighten up!” Bottles, that is. Glass bottles account for 29 percent of wine’s carbon footprint — the single biggest factor — according to a study commissioned in 2011 by the Wine Institute. The weight of the bottle does not indicate the quality of wine inside. What it does, though, is add to the price you pay at the register and the price the planet pays unnecessarily in carbon emissions.