Climate pact for wine industry

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An agreement is being signed by wine industry groups and the South Australian Government aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions in wine production.

Emissions reports will be prepared by growers and producers during next year's vintage and used to develop reduction targets.

Chris Byrne, from the the Riverland Wine Grape Growers Association, says it will be a significant way to address an overseas demand for products from environmentally-conscious winemakers.

"If we can implement it and it is successful in terms of reducing carbon emissions and if that translates into a benefit for Australian, and in particular South Australian wine production, we would expect that it should create some real advantage in overseas markets," he said.

"It's a realisation that as an industry we are being proactive, we are recognising that climate change is upon us - albeit that we don't quite know how to describe it and to measure it yet.

"But we're not putting our heads in the sand and saying 'Well this will go away and we don't need to worry about it'."