Carbon reduction strategies for regionally produced and consumed wine: From farm to fork

Is there mutual methodology among the environmental impact assessment studies of wine production chain? A systematic review

When talking about environmental and sustainability topics, the wine sector plays a fundamental role ensuring that wine remains not only economically but also environmentally sustainable, hence the importance of conducting analyses to measure the impact of food production through Life Cycle Assessment tool. This paper aims to propose a systematic review of the LCA studies related to the grape and wine production chain providing both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of methodologies used, and results proposed, as well as focusing the attention on carbon and water environmental indicators that can be evaluated using the LCA tool. Both the qualitative and the quantitative analysis showed a strong variability among the studies starting from the selection of the functional unit till the way the impact assessment is carried out. The results indicated the lack of homogeneity on the application of the LCA, emphasizing the need for deeper research on the wine sector. Based on the interpretation of the results, it was possible to identify the main drivers and barriers of the environmental impact assessment, allowing the contribution towards providing insights both for LCA practitioners and stakeholders of the wine sector. To this end, the main novelty of this work was to give an all-around view of the application of LCA tool in the wine sector providing a first step in the creation of a standardized procedure that harmonize the way a LCA study must be done. This opportunity would be a huge advantage for the scientific community, allowing the possibility to compare different wine production realities by using a globally recognized procedure without bias. Future research will have to focus on understanding and developing this scheme for enhancing the added value of the wine product.

Wine Supply Chain Network Configuration under a Water Footprint Cap

As agriculture and industry exploit more than 90% of the global freshwater resources, water overuse and degradation have emerged as critical socio-environmental challenges for both nations and corporations. In this context, the water footprint concept was introduced in order to quantify the freshwater consumption and pollution of a territory or across a product’s life cycle. As research on water management in supply chains is growing, this work aims to integrate the perspective of freshwater resources into supply network configuration. Focusing on the agrifood sector, we have developed a mixed-integer linear programming model that can be used to minimize the operational costs under a water footprint cap in a wine supply chain network by selecting the optimal suppliers (vine growers), manufacturing sites (winemakers), and transportation modes (fuel-powered trucks). The optimization outcomes unveil that the wine network’s configurations (structure and fuel type) vary significantly depending on the values of the water footprint cap so as to balance the trade-off between economic and water-related environmental efficiency. Beyond the viticulture sector, the proposed model is anticipated to act as a paradigm for setting joint sustainable targets or caps to limit water use across supply chains.

From Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) to Social Organisational Life Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA): An Evaluation of the Working Conditions of an Italian Wine-Producing Supply Chain

The Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) methodologies allow the entire supply chain of wine to be analysed via a systematic approach. Social Organisational Life-Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA) extends the product perspective of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to a more complex view of the organisation, assessing the entire organisation or part of it (e.g., facilities, geographical area, brands) from a life cycle perspective. It is implemented via the technical framework adopted by Organisational LCA (O-LCA) and S-LCA and according to ISO 14040:2020 and ISO 14044:2020 standards; it follows four phases: Goal and Scope Definition phase, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and Life Cycle Interpretation. This study focuses on the implementation of SO-LCA in a wine-producing organisation starting from a social organisational approach to the working conditions previously evaluated with SA8000. The SO-LCA case study was performed on a consortium composed of nine cooperative wineries located in Chieti, Abruzzo, a region in Central Italy. The existing experience of the consortium with SA8000 provided information and data on the working conditions of the companies involved in the life cycle of the evaluated wine line. All the results were in compliance with our expectations. In the future, it would be desirable to integrate the evaluation based on SA8000 with other data, thus including further working-related social themes in the evaluation.

Evaluation of the influence on water consumption and water scarcity of different healthy diet scenarios

A deep understanding of the water-food nexus it is of a paramount importance as an avenue for sustainable development. Water forms the foundation for food production and a sustainable use of this resource is essential to guarantee the long-term productivity and to build resilient capacity in food and agricultural systems. Here we present methodological challenges regarding different water footprint (WF) methods applied to different dietary scenarios. The volumetric WF of three theoretical but realistic dietary patterns has been quantified (Omnivorous(O), Vegetarian(V) and Vegan(VG)), by means of the Water Footprint Network methodology. Moreover, the AWARE methodology is applied to assess potential impacts of water use trough the Water Scarcity Footprint (WSF). Diets are set to integrate and consider different drivers for food consumption encompassing the social value of the Mediterranean diet, healthy diet recommendations, food preferences of Italian consumers and the trade dimension of foodstuffs. In terms of volumetric WF, the O diet is the most water intensive one accounting for 2800 L/capita/day. A shift from an O to a V and VG diets allows to reduce the volumetric WF respectively 10% and 14%. Green water consumption accounts for the largest share (85%) in all three scenarios. Considering the WSF, V healthy diet is similar to the VG resulting in 11,069 and 11,130 L H₂Oeq/capita/day respectively, whereas the O diet resulted in 11,932 L H₂Oeq/capita/day. A sensitivity analysis was performed by changing each food category, one at a time, to its maximum and minimum value, in order to evaluate the significance of changes in the volumetric WF and WSF as well as the variables that mostly contribute to them. Results show that the volumetric WF associated with V and VG diets consumption overlay the O diet in respectively 53.5% and 35.7% of runs, while overlapping is improved comparing WSFs results. In this case, the WSFs of V and VG diets overlay the O diet in 83.5% of runs, suggesting that the alternative dietary scenarios would have little effect on the overall WSF and that the results are particularly sensitive to the different countries of importation. Results demonstrate the need to consider both volumetric WF and WSF with particular attention to trade analysis in order to support the development of new policies with the aim to foster sustainable consumption patterns, while preserving water resources.

What Is the Environmental Impact of Wine Entering Global Value Chains? Studying the Evolution of CO2 Emissions from the Export of Spanish Denomination of Origin Wines

The continuous growth of the international wine trade and the expansion of international markets is having significant commercial, but also environmental, impacts. The benefits of vineyards in terms of ecosystem service provision are offset by the increase in CO₂ emissions generated by transportation. Denominations of Origin, as quality labels, emphasise a wine's links to the terroir, where specific elements of culture and environment merge together. However, Denominations of Origin can also have differentiating elements as regards environmental performance. Drawing on an extended multiregional input-output model applied to the Spanish Denominations of Origin with the largest presence in the international wine trade, this study shows that wines with the greatest exporting tradition are those that most reduced their carbon footprint per litre of exported wine in the period 2005-2018, thus being the most environmentally efficient.

Innovative Strategies for the Use of Reflective Foils for Fruit Colouration to Reduce Plastic Use in Orchards

(1) Background: Plastic in fruit orchards represents an environmental issue due to large CO2eq emissions associated with its production from fossil fuel and disposal (often incineration). (2) Materials and methods: Apple cv. “Braeburn Hillwell” trees on M9 rootstocks under a hail net were used at Campus Klein-Altendorf (CKA), Germany (50 °N) in 2018. In order to reduce the use of plastics to improve the red colouration of fruit particularly under hail nets, three alternatives to the current use of reflective mulch in each alleyway between the tree rows were explored, with uncovered grass alleyways as control. About 2800 colour measurements were done in the four weeks prior to harvest on 720 attached fruit below and above 1 m height in the field, and ca. 6900 additional colour measurements were conducted at harvest. (3) Results: The underlying regulatory mechanisms contrasted between the diffusive reflection of the white woven ground cover (such as LumilysTM or ExtendayTM) in the alleyways and aluminium foil under the trees with regular (straight) light reflection. Good fruit colouring and a plastic reduction were achieved (a) through spreading the white woven ground cover in every other row, and (b) through substituting the white ground cover with aluminium foil (80% recycled). Both methods can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (75–110 kg CO2eq/ha for the first option a). (4) Conclusion: Plastic use in fruit orchards can be reduced by multiple use of the material in the same or several years, spreading it in every other row or substituting it by another reflective material, a relevant step towards an environment-friendly sustainable horticulture.

A Statistical Framework for Assessing Environmental Performance of Quality Wine Production

The present work presents a statistical framework for analysing and evaluating the environmental performance of 21 wines (protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication) produced in Greece, through their complete lifecycle. For this purpose, the life cycle assessment methodology was used. It is well known that lifecycle thinking is a scientific approach that can support businesses in decision making towards sustainable consumption and production. However, such techniques provide a large amount of multi-dimensional data that are difficult to comprehend and interpret. Therefore, the application of an appropriate statistical framework to aid this assessment, which should be as unambiguous and reliable as possible, is needed. This statistical framework should be based on the lifecycle inventory results, on an appropriate multivariate technique such as principal component analysis, and on probability distributions, thereby providing an objective framework to assist the evaluation of the environmental performance of the products. Applying the proposed framework to 21 Greek wines, we found that the proposed framework could be used for categorizing the examined wines according to their environmental impact severity, as well as the impact types associated with them.