Background Like most economic sectors, agriculture produces greenhouse gases, accounting for around 10% of total CO2 emissions in the EU (4.7 billion tonnes in 2012). In Europe, around 57 million hectares are cultivated for agriculture, of which 5.6% (3 million ha) is devoted to vineyards. The main wastes and by-products from viticulture and winemaking activities are pruned vine shoots, grape stalks, grape marc, wine lees and winery wastewater. Pruning vine shoots alone yields 800-1 500 kg/ha. One third of Europe’s vineyards are in Spain and vineyard waste management contributes to more than 5.5% of the entire CO2 emission share within Spain’s agriculture. Thus, improving the traditional management of vineyard pruning waste, which currently involves burning shoots, could significantly enhance sustainability and reduce climate impacts from viticulture and winemaking activities. The project is based in Murcia, which has 32 400 ha of vineyards, 1.1% of Europe’s total vineyards and 11% of the total cultivated area in the region). Objectives The main objective of LIFE SARMIENTO project is to contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change through the achievement of significant reductions of CO2 emissions from vineyards, and the improvement of climate governance with new land-use practices that improve the profitability of vineyards, halt soil degradation and enhance soil resilience and biodiversity in arid climatic conditions. The project will apply a circular economy principle to vineyard pruning waste, converting it into a substrate that can be applied as enriched compost in vineyards, seedbeds and urban allotments, as opposed to burning it. This will also help to avoid soil degradation and have positive socio-economic and biodiversity impacts. The process will be developed and tested on 750 ha of vineyards in Murcia. The project will also develop tools, training modules and guidelines to effectively transfer its solution to other wine production areas in Europe. Dissemination activities will have both a national and international dimension. Expected results: CO2 emissions reduced by 85% (2.4 tonnes/ha/yr) in comparison with current management practices; Improved soil conditions and avoidance of soil degradation, increasing the soil’s capacity to store carbon and providing for better resilience that supports climate change adaptation; Positive impacts on biodiversity through a bottom-up approach that improves soil biodiversity; Establishment of a process to convert more than 250 kg/ha of vine shoots from residues to by-products with new uses, achieved by engaging with multiple stakeholders to promote the circular economy concept at the local level; 750 ha of vineyards managed according to this method; 1 850 tonnes/yr of CO2 emissions saved; 200 tonnes/yr of waste turned into a by-product, providing 650 m3/yr of enriched compost to be used as fertiliser and bio-pesticide in the vineyards and 150 m3/yr of compost and substrate for urban allotments and for seedbeds; Development of tools to support the sustainability of this solution and its self-management by stakeholders; and Transfer of the project’s methods to other wine production areas in Spain and beyond (target is at least 1 500 ha under this form of management within three years of the end of the project).With these results, the project will demonstrate new approaches to climate change mitigation through the reduction of CO2 emissions from vineyards; contribute to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy with improved resource efficiency by using a circular economy approach to turn waste into by-products; and will support better climate governance at all levels, including stronger partnerships with local stakeholders and better adaptation to climate change.