A simplified LCA model to facilitate viticulture sustainability assessment

Environmental sustainability is increasingly recognized as a critical aspect of agricultural production. An adequate strategy to improve sustainability of the wine industry must start with an objective quantification of its sustainability performance. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely accepted tool for this. Grape production processes can vary considerably between wineries. Consequently, conducting LCA to identify potentials for improvement of environmental sustainability is highly context-specific, labor-intensive and requires expertise of the LCA methodology. Therefore, it is not yet a hands-on tool for many wineries. Simplifying LCA models could increase its use as a management and decision tool. This study aimed to develop a method for simplifying LCA specifically adapted for the agricultural context to conduct reliable environmental impact estimation in viticulture using only a small set of key parameters while fixing less influential inputs at generic values. Therefore, average vineyard management data and their probabilistic distributions were gathered from literature and expert input, then analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation and global sensitivity analysis in Brightway2. Results show that environmental impacts can be reliably estimated using just 15 easily quantifiable parameters, while 40 less influential inputs can be fixed at their median values without significant loss of accuracy. The simplified model closely matches full LCA results, offering a practical, robust tool for non-experts. This approach enables rapid, accessible sustainability assessments in viticulture and the established method could be adapted for broader adoption in agricultural management. • Novel LCA model reduces winery-specific data needs from 55 to just 1–15 parameters • Combines Monte Carlo and Global Sensitivity Analysis for robust LCA simplification • Simplified model complies with ISO and EU Product Environmental Footprint • Enables accessible vineyard LCA for non-experts and rapid sustainability assessment • Method could be adapted for broader adoption in agricultural management