Is Environmental Sustainability Also “Economically Efficient”? The Case of the “SOStain” Certification for Sicilian Sparkling Wines

Marzia Ingrassia, Stefania Chironi, Giuseppe Lo Grasso, Luciano Gristina, Nicola Francesca, Simona Bacarella, Pietro Columba and Luca Altamore
Additional contact information
Marzia Ingrassia: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Stefania Chironi: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Giuseppe Lo Grasso: Co.Re.R.A.S.—Consorzio Regionale per la Ricerca Applicata e la Sperimentazione, 90143 Palermo, Italy
Luciano Gristina: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Nicola Francesca: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Simona Bacarella: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Pietro Columba: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Luca Altamore: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90100 Palermo, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-26

Abstract: The Italian wine industry is strongly committed to sustainability. Among the numerous sustainability certifications and programs implemented in Italy for the wine sector, SOStain is the oldest at the regional level. The SOStain Foundation promotes the voluntary application of a sustainability program, developed in 2010 in Sicily (Southern Italy). The requirements of the SOStain specifications are connected to the new CAP 2023–2027 objectives; therefore, companies preparing for the new challenges of future winemaking might be interested in joining the SOStain Foundation for greening production practices. The objective of this study was to learn producers’ and consumers’ opinions about motivations, real/perceived difficulties, cost, and positive effects of the SOStain certification, as well as their intentions to make ethical choices and their willingness to spend more for a Sicilian sparkling wine with the SOStain certification. A census of producers combined with a consumer survey and focus groups were carried out. Multidimensional scaling was used to discover the polarization of producers’/consumers’ opinions regarding the SOStain certification. The findings highlighted the effect of ethical choices, despite sensory likings, on purchasing intentions and issues related to higher costs of production and market prices. The results highlighted the criticalities of the green transition for wineries and the importance of correct communication through social media.

Keywords: green deal; premium price; multidimensional scaling; focus group; sensory test; sampling survey; environmental certifications; CAP; Sicilian wineries; consumer preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7359/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7359/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7359-:d:840029

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().