Hallgarten & Novum Wines strives for accountability in terms of sustainability, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, and the environment. The business believes sustainability is about making a positive impact in everything it does, from how it acts as an organisation, to the way in which it delivers wines and services to its customers, through to encouraging and reinforcing the sustainable commitments of its own suppliers. The team recognise that the business’ broad responsibilities extend beyond delivering quality wines to the wine trade. It is all part of the Hallgarten ‘DNA’.
Hallgarten & Novum Wines is one of the UK’s leading specialist wine merchants, with over 90 years of experience importing wines from producers around the world and supplying the UK on- and off-trade. Owned by Coterie Holdings, Hallgarten has an enviable award-winning portfolio of over 1,600 wines from 24 countries, featuring some of the world’s greatest producers from the classic regions, whilst also championing esoteric and emerging winegrowing areas. In 2018, the business achieved the ISO 14001 accreditation for its dedication to minimising its environmental impact. Hallgarten is a proud holder of the Investors in People Silver accreditation.
Hallgarten’s sustainability efforts are not new. Each year the business has signed up to stretching targets covering recycling and waste management, energy reduction and water savings, amongst others. Hallgarten has been Corporate Carbon Neutral since 2023, and continues to focus on year-on-year environmental footprint improvement. Hallgarten’s aims, targets and results are all covered in its Sustainability Report, available on its website.
Over the next five years, Hallgarten is committed to a significant reduction in its carbon footprint, with a target of decreasing Scope 1, 2, and 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by at least 50% by 2032, and at least 90% by 2050.
This strategy will be implemented across several key areas:
• Energy Consumption: The objective is to reduce annual electricity and gas consumption year-on-year. For its employees, Hallgarten will encourage sustainable commuting through new salary sacrifice and cycle-to-work schemes, while continuing to leverage hybrid working to minimise travel. Behavioural change is paramount, with the business reducing printing, and lowering electricity usage, and encouraging homeworking best practice to educate and support those working remotely in reducing their environmental impact. At the Luton head office, there are concerted efforts to reduce energy consumption through targets and audits, and a switch to renewable energy tariffs. To complement these reduction efforts, the business will also invest in certified carbon offsetting projects that actively remove CO2 from the environment.
• Waste & Recycling: Hallgarten aims to increase the volume of recycled office waste year-on-year. The company recycles glass, paper and cardboard, batteries, print cartridges, crisp packets, plastic biros, corks, cans and tins, and food waste. Efforts will continue to ensure team members are educated on the benefits of recycling. The goal is to reduce the volume of printed material by the end of 2025 by 50%.
• Travel: Hallgarten will evaluate the effectiveness of remote meetings and redefine what the business classifies as 'essential' travel going forward. It will redefine its travel policies to favour remote meetings, and rail transport over short-haul flights.
• Third-Party Logistics: Given that upstream sea freight accounts for 58% of Hallgarten’s carbon footprint, its shipping team will work closely with logistics partners to address this large source of emissions, investigating and encouraging the adoption of lower-emission fuels and vehicle technologies.
• Hallgarten Eco Standard: The team will continue to gather information, monitor progress and work with suppliers to improve their sustainability goals, with an updated Eco Standard published annually. Measured against the four pillars of Environment, Energy Management, Water & Waste Management and Social Responsibility, the Hallgarten Eco Standard grades the sustainability of its wine suppliers.
Hallgarten is committed to capturing raw data from suppliers, staff, print systems, expense and travel management systems, third parties and financial systems on a monthly basis and populating its cloud-based carbon calculator tool for all scopes. The in-house, cross-functional Terroir Team tracks progress vs agreed goals each month, and reports back to senior management and the broad organisation quarterly. The data is independently verified by its chosen carbon neutral audit partner. During this time, the business continues to focus on the reduction of usage and the increase in sustainable energy sources.
