A comprehensive review of carbon footprint analysis as an extended environmental indicator in the wine sector

Currently, carbon footprint (CF) analysis is gaining a role of primary interest within the extensive
literature regarding wine sustainability issues. It envisages the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions
that underpin the life-cycle of wine, from viticulture and vinification to wine bottling, distribution,
consumption and waste end-of-life. This critical review pursues several methodological and conceptual
issues behind wine carbon footprinting, such as calculation approaches, labeling and standardization
purposes, combinations with other methods and theories, and CF trends in the wine sector. Most studies
have only addressed specific methodological issues from an attributional life-cycle perspective, or have
directly reported the CF profile of a given wine product. Future studies, however, will have to deal with
increasingly complex market interactions linked to the entire life cycle of wine-making. A comprehensive
discussion is presented concerning the benefits the CF indicator may provide both to producers and
consumers and on the needs for reducing uncertainties and misinterpretations within a growing globalized
wine market.