Investigating the environmental sustainability of a PGI production: the case of Melone Mantovano

The European Union is strongly promoting Geographical Indications (GI) products since the literature has demonstrated how these products can have positive impacts on the social and economic aspects of sustainability. However, environmental sustainability has to be more deeply investigated. This work is aimed to evaluate the environmental impacts of the GI production, also in comparison to conventional production. As first case of study, the supply chain of the Melone Mantovano GI has been investigated and compared to the conventional production in the same area. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) and the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) have been estimated by a LCA approach. The first results do not allow a generalization of the environmental benefits related to PGI because are affected by particular practices by the companies. Further developments are in progress to analyze different supply chains and indicators for investigating if the certification can be correlated to environmental sustainability.