A statistical framework for assessing environmental performance of quality wine production

Abstract

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.