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This chapter discusses the creation of The Icarus Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that was founded in 2007 to address the issues of climate change and tourism in Canada. As Canada's first nongovernmental organization in this area, the role of the foundation will be described and current initiatives undertaken will be outlined. Challenges to starting a nongovernmental organization in Canada will also be discussed, such as lack of funding, an unmotivated tourism industry, relaxed government regulations, concern about climate change, and its impacts on the tourism industry. The Icarus Foundation began and continues to operate with skeletal staff and the manpower of a few individuals, precariously facing the potential to become extinct if action and support are not provided.

While global wine consumption is growing, environmental sustainability in the wine industry is also receiving increased attention from retailers, governments, environmental groups, and consumers. New Zealand has experienced a winery boom over the past two decades with a 173 per cent increase in the number of wineries. Along with this growth, wineries are also facing issues such as water consumption, its impact on community, and waste management. The study therefore seeks to examine: the current sustainability initiatives undertaken by wineries; what drives the wine industry to engage in sustainable practices; and barriers to implementing sustainable practices.

Using a mixed method research approach, this study uses a triangulated approach to examine interviews and questionnaires to determine motivations and elements of influence.

This study found that the strong drivers for the sustainability initiatives are their concern about the state of the environment and social responsibility, followed by requirements for exporting and protection of agricultural land.

A limitation of this study was a low response rate from the online questionnaire, which may influence or bias study results. However, detailed face‐to‐face interviews help to gain clarification on concepts and study results.

While global wine consumption is growing, environmental sustainability in the wine industry is also receiving increasing attention from retailers, governments, environmental groups and consumers. New Zealand has experienced a winery boom over the past two decades with a 173 per cent increase in the number of wineries. Along with this growth, wineries are also facing issues such as water consumption, its impact on community, and waste management.

Although there are many studies about the wine industry, relatively few studies have examined sustainability elements from a mixed‐method approach to determine practical elements which may influence practices undertaken. It also examines practices undertaken by wineries, barriers to implementation and incentives to further implementation.

Timofey Agarin <Email: t.agarin@ecmi.de> is a Research Fellow at the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg, Germany. His work focuses on central-eastern European states and their relations with national and transnational nongovernmental organizations. His research interests include cooperation between civil society groups and the government across the postsocialist states in the context of global environmental change.