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Domaine des Cinq Autels
Sky above Val-ès-Dunes at dawn, near Domaine des Cinq Autels

Our carbon commitment

Beyond organic

Organic farming protects the soil. One question remained: what mark do we leave on the atmosphere?

Measuring, to know

In 2019, when we took over the estate, one question stayed with us. Half a century of organic farming had preserved our soil. But were we equal to the climate challenge? What mark were we leaving on nature?

To find out, we had to measure. We carried out our carbon footprint assessment.

With moderate fuel use for our tractor and a processing method that runs mostly on electricity, we felt fairly confident.

The assessment proved our instinct wrong. Our carbon footprint was very real. And the heaviest item wasn't the one we expected.

The container, at 86%

The verdict: 700 grams of CO₂ per bottle of cider sold. Of those 700 grams, 600 come from the glass bottle alone. That's 86% of our footprint concentrated in the container alone.

Why so heavy? We did what almost everyone does: recyclable glass bottles. Glass isn't the problem. Single use is. Each bottle was made, filled, transported, opened, then sent for recycling.

And recycling isn't the solution people imagine. Making a new bottle means melting the glass again at nearly 1,500°C. Every cycle, the manufacturing energy starts over from zero. Recycling reduces waste. Not the carbon footprint.

The solution comes down to three words: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The 3R rule. Reduce first, reuse next, recycle as a last resort. It's the middle step, reusing the bottle, that became our first project.

Five concrete projects

Moving beyond disposable glass

Collection bin filled with empty glass bottles, including a Domaine des Cinq Autels dry cider bottle
A Cinq Autels bottle in a Revera collection container, in Lyon. Once emptied, it goes back to be washed and refilled.

In 2025, we crossed a threshold: 100% of the bottles we produce are now reusable. A multi-year project that reshaped our entire logistics, letting us cut the largest share of our carbon footprint through this one action alone.

Discover bottle reuse

Turning the estate into a carbon sink

Aerial view of the replanted orchard at Domaine des Cinq Autels: rows of young apple trees, hedgerows and a river along the edge

Since 2019, we've replanted 9,000 trees and a 2.6 km hedgerow. The orchard doesn't just grow apples: it also stores CO₂.

Visit the agroforestry orchard

Insulating with straw

Straw bale harvest in the field: tractor, loaded trailer and bales being loaded at Domaine des Cinq Autels

In 2023, we started a straw insulation project. 1,000 straw bales installed against the walls and roof, and in the end 75% less cooling required to keep our ciders at the right temperature.

See the straw project

Leaving the tractor in the shed

Flock of black and white sheep grazing among the apple trees at Domaine des Cinq Autels

Cutting our diesel use by replacing mechanical mowing with eco-grazing. Our sheep maintain the ground between the apple trees: fewer tractor passes, more biodiversity, and manure that goes straight back into the soil.

Understand eco-grazing

Distilling with wood from the orchard

Copper still at Domaine des Cinq Autels, where the Calvados is distilled

Our next project: converting our still to run on wood from apple tree pruning, instead of heating oil. Eventually, our Calvados will be distilled from a resource produced on site, with no transport and no fossil fuel.

Our still project

Our course

Five projects, with many more to come. Our course by 2030: an estate that gives back more carbon to the earth than it releases.

Not neutral. Positive.

Carbon is only one dimension of our commitments. Discover our full set of values and commitments.

Our commitments