Abstract
According to the 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, putting in place policiesthat support sustainable development is imperative. The carbon neutrality concept introduced in 2002 isan efficient way to manage the risks and reduce the vulnerabilities in the land and the food system. Giventhe pivotal role of sustainability for todays’consumers, the low risk and high rewards of carbon neutralproduction could help businesses transform their entire sector. This article is among thefirst to showthat the carbon neutrality principle offers advantages that far outweigh the costs of maintaining thestatus quo. The case study of a cognac producer in France suggests that prioritizing sustainable devel-opment by reducing emissions could be a beneficial solution, particularly in the high energy spirits in-dustry. Specifically, implementing the three stages (and substages) of the carbon neutral methodology tocalculate carbon footprint, this study provides evidence that distilling 1 hL of pure alcohol produces 0.9tons of CO2emissions. Proposing actions to reduce emissions by 10%, and calculating the offset costs toevaluate the remaining emissions, the study also offers a practical implementation approach and dis-cusses several potential legislative scenarios that might accelerate the transition to carbon neutralproduction output.