Elsevier

Food Policy

Volume 49, Part 1, December 2014, Pages 167-173
Food Policy

Rebound effects due to economic choices when assessing the environmental sustainability of wine

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.07.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Increases in production efficiency commonly lead to Rebound Effects (REs).

  • Many Life Cycle Assessment studies have analysed the environmental profile of wine.

  • REs have been repeatedly disregarded in environmental sustainability studies.

  • The main REs due to economic choices are analysed for the wine sector.

  • The link between REs and a consequential LCA framework is discussed.

Abstract

The identification and working mechanisms of Rebound Effects (REs) have important policy implications. The intensity of these impacts is crucial when it comes to detecting strategies to promote sustainable consumption of food and beverages, as in the case of wine. In fact, neglecting the occurrence of REs in wine production and delivery leads to under- or over-estimating the effects that novel more sustainable technologies may produce. An in-depth analysis on the ways in which the stakeholders may react to the availability of a new product (e.g. wine produced through a process oriented to the reduction of CO2 emissions) may be particularly useful to allow producers and consumers to target the REs with respect to the overall goals of desired sustainability. In this article, we first provide a definition and a classification of different types of REs and then analyse some exemplificative cases applied to the supply and consumption of wine produced through technologies that reduce environmental emissions or resource consumptions. A final step analyses the methodological tools that may be useful when including REs in life cycle thinking as applied to the wine sector.

Introduction

Growth in economic activities originating as a consequence of the increase in production efficiency generates a phenomenon commonly referred to as the Rebound Effect – RE (Hertwich, 2005, Sorrell and Dimitropoulos, 2008). More specifically, the RE describes intensifications of resource or energy efficiency that do not necessarily result in a corresponding decrease in energy or resource use (Binswanger, 2001).

While historically associated with the study of energy use, the topic of REs plays a significant role in the debate regarding the quantification of environmental impacts (i.e. resource use, pollutant emissions or generated wastes) using environmental management tools (Chitnis et al., 2013, Druckman et al., 2011). An example of these tools is the Carbon Footprint – CF indicator (BSI, 2011), which originates from the standardized and broadly accepted Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method (ISO, 2006). Both CF and LCA aim, among other environmental management methodologies, at elucidating on whether the introduction of a technical, apparently more sustainable, innovation in the product’s supply-chain may lead to a real environmental improvement of the entire life cycle. In doing so, the product in question is intended to become more ‘eco-compatible’ than its traditional counterpart.

In contrast with this steady-state view, which matches the perspective covered by attributional LCA studies (EU, 2010), it is worth considering an evolutionary (dynamic) view in which the possible reactions on the market due to the implementation of this ‘new’ product are quantified and analysed (Giampietro and Mayumi, 2008). In fact, the latter fits in with the strategy followed in consequential LCA (CLCA), a life cycle approach that intends to raise the utility of LCA studies (e.g. policy making) by monitoring the environmental consequences of a change (UNEP, 2011). In addition, the identification of REs and their functionality mechanisms underlies important policy implications. The dimension of these effects is essential when the aim is to establish strategies to implement sustainable production and consumption patterns.

In general, neglecting REs may result in an under- or over-estimation of the environmental and economic impacts that new sustainable technologies can provide at a broader scale (Chitnis et al., 2013). An in-depth analysis on the ways producers, on the one hand, and consumers, on the other, may respond to the availability of a new production technology or a new product is essential to address the overall targets of desired sustainability to understand which might be the activity levels to be expected from this improvement.

An interesting example is the wine sector, which has recently experienced a set of development actions addressed to perform a requalification of the supply-chain and labelling through the implementation of sustainable production models. For instance, Commission Regulation (EC) No. 607/2009, which develops Council Regulation No. 479/2008, advances a new framework for the labelling and presentation of certain wine products, which will have a direct effect on the European organisation of the wine market in the revised Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) 2014–2020). This new framework is expected to increase the wine niche markets, by introducing important modifications in the viticulture (e.g., adaptation of vineyards to organic and/or biodynamic practices) and packaging stages (e.g. the use of lighter bottles) along the supply chain. In fact, the implementation at a small scale of some of these actions have led to subsequent variable changes in the costs of winemaking and, therefore, in the final price paid by consumers. For instance, while CF studies on wine production suggest that the associated GHG emissions are lower when using PET bottles rather than glass (Point et al., 2012, Vázquez-Rowe et al., 2012), the related reduction of costs has increased the exportability of wine and, therefore, increased at the same time the overall life cycle carbon emissions caused by transportation, as well as the final price at retailing (Waye, 2008).

Based on this background, the main aim of this article is to examine the concept of REs in the context of sustainable wine production (i.e. wine produced with technologies capable of reducing the consumption of resources and the emission of pollutants and wastes), while defining a roadmap to address current open questions about the assessment of REs in CF and LCA of wine through a CLCA approach. Analysing wine rather than other food or drink products that are more essential in the human diet (e.g. dairy or cereal-based products) has been considered effective in this article since wine products currently tend to go beyond national economic boundaries. This circumstance strongly influences price and market worldwide, making wine an interesting example due to its complex REs implications. Nevertheless, beyond the focus on the wine sector presented in this article, discussion attempts to explore the importance of REs in the food and beverages sector from a life-cycle perspective.

The structure of the article is centred on the definition and classification of REs and the related economic and environmental implications associated with the inclusion of a possible technological innovation on the micro- and macro-level of the wine market, considering factors that influence the supply and demand of wine and their inter-relationship (e.g. the elasticity of price and income at the consumption’s demand scale).

Section snippets

Rebound Effects: theoretical background

In the field of energy economics and savings, the RE (or take-back) refers to specific systemic responses that originate from the introduction of more efficient technologies in the production cycle. As a result, the positive effects attained with the new technology are generally counterbalanced due to the continuous dynamic adaptation of the economy to its own structures (Giampietro and Mayumi, 2008). For instance, Berkhout et al. (2000) state that a RE of 10% implies that 10% of the energy

A preliminary outlook

The aim here is to evaluate, in a simplified but straightforward way, the potential REs occurring through the life cycle of wine production and consumption from a conceptual perspective. As an example for the discussion, we assume that the adoption by a wine company of a GHG protocol for analysis and monitoring of the CF (independently or within the LCA framework), which aims at providing technical suggestions to reduce life cycle emissions of CO2-equivalent, represents an innovative process

Conclusions and future outlook

The present study attempted to identify and discuss the REs rising from the life-cycle of wine production and consumption. These are generally linked to the inclusion of new technologies throughout the supply chain, and are intended to lower the direct and/or indirect resource use and pollutants release (such as carbon emissions). Therefore, a similar approach to the study of REs could be ideally extended to other food or drink products. However, the characteristics of each product with respect

Acknowledgements

Authors with affiliation to the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC 2013-032. Dr. Ian Vázquez-Rowe wishes to thank the Galician Government for financial support (I2C postdoctoral student grants programme).

References (49)

  • K.F.D. Hughey et al.

    Qualitative evaluation of three ‘environmental management systems’ in the New Zealand wine industry

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2005)
  • C. Lange et al.

    Expectation, liking and purchase behaviour under economical constraint

    Food Quality and Preference

    (1998)
  • L. Lockshin et al.

    Using simulations from discrete choice experiments to measure consumer sensitivity to brand, region, price, and awards in wine choice

    Food Quality and Preference

    (2006)
  • L. Lockshin et al.

    Consumer behaviour for wine 2.0: a review since 2003 and future directions

    Wine Econ. Policy

    (2012)
  • G. Pergher et al.

    Assessment of spray deposition and recycling rate in the vineyard from a new type of air-assisted tunnel sprayer

    Crop Prot.

    (2013)
  • E. Point et al.

    Life cycle environmental impacts of wine production and consumption in Nova Scotia, Canada

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2012)
  • B. Rugani et al.

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

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2013)
  • M.P. Sáenz-Navajas et al.

    Perception of wine quality according to extrinsic cues: the case of Burgundy wine consumers

    Food Quality and Preference

    (2013)
  • S. Sorrell et al.

    The rebound effect: microeconomic definitions, limitations and extensions

    Ecological Economics

    (2008)
  • I. Vázquez-Rowe et al.

    Environmental analysis of Ribeiro wine from a timeline perspective: harvest year matters when reporting environmental impacts

    Journal of Environmental Management

    (2012)
  • P. Villanueva-Rey et al.

    Comparative life cycle assessment in the wine sector: biodynamic vs. conventional viticulture activities in NW Spain

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2014)
  • T. Wei

    A general equilibrium view of global rebound effects

    Energy Econ.

    (2010)
  • L. Zurawicki et al.

    Consumers during crisis: responses from the middle class in Argentina

    J. Bus. Res.

    (2005)
  • S. Baddeley et al.

    Trade policy implications of carbon labels on food

    J. Int. Law Trade Policy

    (2012)
  • Cited by (23)

    • Carbon footprint information, prices, and restaurant wine choices by customers: A natural field experiment

      2021, Ecological Economics
      Citation Excerpt :

      The wine sector offers an interesting case to test our research questions since it is a viable sector to start testing the introduction of CF taxes given that it has a lower potential for tax regressivity effects because wine is a non-essential good. Moreover, the effects of substitution among different types of wine products on diet are limited (Benedetto et al., 2014). The reduced effect on diet also allows us to restrict the research assessment and policy intervention to a limited number of products that could be confined within different wine varieties.

    • Rebound effects in agricultural land and soil management: Review and analytical framework

      2019, Journal of Cleaner Production
      Citation Excerpt :

      For a technology pathway where additional production is achieved through higher productivity, these authors found strong demand-side rebound effects that reduced potential greenhouse gas savings by 50%. Benedetto et al. (2014) presented an analytical framework for rebound effects in the wine industry. Assuming a theoretical novel product with a lower carbon footprint, they illustrated how total greenhouse gas emissions may either increase or decrease depending on price changes and choices made by producers and consumers.

    • Sustainability experiences in the wine sector: toward the development of an international indicators system

      2018, Journal of Cleaner Production
      Citation Excerpt :

      In Italy, the movement for sustainability in the wine sector has emerged later with respect to other countries (Unione Italiana Vini, 2015). Nevertheless, Italy has a primary role in Europe for what concerns sustainable viticulture, with roughly 15 programs, aiming to improve sustainability and research in the wine industry with a special emphasis on environmental sustainability indicators, emissions of greenhouse gases and the use of LCA (Benedetto et al., 2014; Iannone et al., 2016; Lamastra et al., 2014; Rugani et al., 2013). An overview of the Italian initiatives, in which we highlighted the differences and complementarity, is useful to identify the prominent strengths and weaknesses of the different programs.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text