Can Geographical Indications promote environmental sustainability in food supply chains? Insights from a systematic literature review

Scientific literature and regulation acknowledge the positive social and economic impacts of local food productions, especially for Geographical Indication products, but their relationship with environmental sustainability remains still to be better investigated. The current European reform of the Geographical Indications system is adopting environment protection as one of the main objectives, in conformity with the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies. In this framework, the present paper is aimed to show how Geographical Indications food products are related to environmental sustainability by the means of a systematic literature review. Firstly, the relevant publications are analyzed and classified referring to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework. Results show a contradictory picture regarding the positive and negative implications of Geographical Indications production for the different components of environmental protection (e.g., SDG 9 or SDG 12). Secondly, the literature analysis identifies four features (namely products specification, producers’ environmental consciousness, role of institutions and link with the territory) of Geographical Indications that may mitigate environmental pressures, when present. Finally, after the analysis of the current and emerging European Geographical Indications regulation, policy suggestions are advanced. In particular, to enhance the environmental sustainability of Geographical Indication products, explicit environmental objectives should be introduced in Geographical Indication specification, while consciousness of producers, multidimensional cooperation and link with the territory should be strengthened.