Social Aspects in the Wine Sector: Comparison between Social Life Cycle Assessment and VIVA Sustainable Wine Project Indicators

Abstract

When examining the triple bottom line approach (TBL) in regard to sustainability, social aspects are the less explored in the context of wine production. This paper analyzes the social sustainability assessment tools available for companies who need to consider their social impacts. For this purpose, we started from the analysis conducted in the work, which was the integration between the territory indicator of VIVA project “Sustainable Wine”, which is the sustainable wine project and social life cycle assessment analysis for the wine sector. In this study, the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) methodology was compared with the VIVA certification requirements for Italian wine production. The main research objective was to analyze differences and similarities between the two indicator sets for the evaluation of the social aspects related to this sector. Starting from a general introduction to the agri-food and wine sector, we provide an overview of the VIVA project and of the S-LCA for the assessment methodology. Subsequently, we focus on the wine sector and the main players involved, as well as the primary production phases. Finally, we compare the two tools—the S-LCA and the VIVA project—and discuss the main differences between the two instruments and the possibilities for future works to develop the integration of these indicators sets to broader the analyses of the socioeconomic impacts of the wine sector.