The evolution of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): some guide-lines for future research in the wine sector

The approach of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an essential reference for the international scientific community in assessing the sustainability of economic activities. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the development prospects of the application of LCA in agricultural economics. Firstly we briefly summarized the evolution of this tool: from the environmental LCA to the LCSA (Life Cycle Social Assessment)  which considers the three aspects of sustainability in view of Life Cycle Thinking in order to highlight the drivers for  future researches. Then we carried out literature review on international applications in the wine industry. This exercise has been oriented  to highlight the used methodological approaches ,  investigate the economic and market already obtained results already,and propose some reflections about the consequences related to the use of conventional LCA and finally to indicate the still poorly investigated fields of research.