Using Life Cycle Assessment to identify potential environmental impacts of an agrifood sector: Application to the PDO Beaujolais and Burgundia wine sector

Abstract

The environmental impacts of the production system of emblematic French product under official quality marks was investigated using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The study looks at the PDO Beaujolais and Burgundy sector from a broad perspective, i.e. encompassing all steps linked with the products themselves but also complementary activities that belong to this wine sector. To build the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), a methodology deriving from both product and organizational LCA was developed and applied. The LCI was built using a bottom-up approach. Inventories were first built for a sample of 17 representative companies. Then, these inventories were scaled-up to complete the global LCI at the agrifood sector level. Potential environmental impacts were assessed for 8 indicators. The LCA results show potential environmental impacts for each life cycle step: grape production, wine making and aging, packaging, distribution and activity of stakeholders belonging to the “close environment”. It provided two main outcomes: (i) a methodology for the construction of an LCI adapted to the perimeter of an agrifood sector and composed by high quality data; and (ii) the identification of potential environmental impacts of the studied agrifood sector, providing assistance for the definition of their strategic orientations for the future.