11. The Greening of Chilean Wineries Through Specialized Services

It is widely recognized that conventional wine-producing practices can seriously damage the environment (Desta 2008). Environmental damage occurs throughout the wine value chain due to inputs (such as chemicals, energy, packaging materials and water) and outputs (such as organic waste, solid and liquid waste, CO₂ emissions and a water footprint). Within this context, there has been growing pressure around the world to improve the environmental sustainability of the wine sector over the past two decades. The issue of environmental sustainability has arisen in part from the wine sector itself, due to the negative impacts of climate change (less rainfall and more frequent and extreme weather conditions) it has suffered. Moreover, wine consumers are increasingly concerned with reducing their carbon footprint (CF), which is another pressure on winemakers to improve their environmental impact.