World’s first global sustainability standard for glass launched for consultation

  • Developed by leading glassmakers, suppliers, customers and sustainability organisations from across the global glass value chain.
  • Framework aims to reduce emissions, improve transparency and create a certification system for responsibly produced glass.

July 21 – ResponsibleGlass has published the first draft of its International Standard for Glassmaking, marking a major step towards creating the world’s first global sustainability standard, certification and labelling system for the glass industry.

The draft standard is now open for a 60-day public consultation, giving businesses, suppliers, customers, policymakers, NGOs and other stakeholders the opportunity to help shape its development.

ResponsibleGlass is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2025 to maximise the contribution of glass to a sustainable society. The initiative brings together organisations from across the glass value chain, including glass manufacturers, raw material suppliers, recyclers, brands, sustainability experts and civil society organisations.

Since launching in December 2025, ResponsibleGlass has grown to become an organisation with 23 Founding Members and Supporters, which includes some of the world’s largest glass production companies alongside global organisations across the automotive, retail, construction and luxury goods sectors. Collectively, ResponsibleGlass members and supporters employ more than 150,000 people across the glass sector and generate approximately $90 billion in annual revenue.

Founding members and supporters come from across the glass ecosystem and include Jaguar Land Rover ARUP, Belron, Ciner Glass, Climate Group, DSS+, IRMA, NSG Group, Stara Glass, WE Soda, ARM, Cary Group, ERM CVS.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Francis Sullivan, former Head of Sustainability at HSBC, and Alan Knight, former Board member at ResponsibleSteel. ResponsibleSteel grew within a decade into a global network of more than 160 members, including major steel producers, NGOs and end-users, helping establish internationally recognised sustainability standards for the steel industry

Glass plays a vital role in modern life, from buildings and vehicles to food packaging, solar panels and advanced technologies. Yet despite the industry’s importance, glass production generates around 95 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions globally each year and, unlike sectors such as steel and forestry, has never had a unified international sustainability framework.

ResponsibleGlass was formed to address this gap.

The draft ResponsibleGlass Standard is designed to create a clear, independently verifiable framework for responsible glassmaking. It covers the entire glass value chain, from the sourcing of raw materials and energy through to glass production, product design and recycling.  Under the proposals, glassmakers seeking ResponsibleGlass certification would be independently assessed against requirements covering governance, responsible sourcing, environmental performance, worker welfare, community impacts and circularity.

The draft standard is structured around six core areas:
  • Management systems – ensuring companies have the policies, and reporting systems needed to manage sustainability performance effectively.
  • Responsible business practices – including legal compliance, anti-corruption measures, stakeholder engagement, transparency and public reporting of sustainability data.
  • Responsible sourcing – requiring companies to understand and assess the environmental and social impacts of key raw materials, recycled materials and energy sources used in glass production, while promoting greater supply chain transparency. This includes everything from silica sand and soda ash through to recovered glass and energy inputs.
  • Environmental performance – covering greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, water stewardship, biodiversity, waste management, air emissions and pollution, with companies expected to measure, manage and disclose performance against key sustainability metrics.
  • People and communities – including worker health and safety, labour rights, human rights and engagement with local communities affected by glassmaking operations.
  • Circularity and sustainable product design – encouraging greater use of recycled materials, improved recycling and recovery rates, and the development of glass products designed to reduce environmental impacts both during use and at the end of life.
Under the proposed system, glassmaking facilities would undergo independent audits against the ResponsibleGlass Standard. To achieve certification, facilities would need to demonstrate compliance with requirements covering responsible sourcing, environmental performance, worker welfare, transparency and circularity. Companies that meet the requirements would achieve ResponsibleGlass certification.

The standard also proposes common rules for measuring and reporting sustainability performance. Glassmakers would be required to use consistent definitions and reporting methodologies for issues such as carbon emissions, recycled content and responsible sourcing, making it easier for customers and stakeholders to compare performance across the industry. These requirements would form the basis of a certification and labelling system for responsibly produced glass.

The publication of the first draft of the standard follows six months of collaboration between ResponsibleGlass members, supporters and stakeholders from across the glass value chain. The standard has been informed by feedback received following the publication of preliminary proposals earlier this year and has been developed through a multi-stakeholder process involving businesses, technical experts and civil society organisations from across the sector.

Working groups covering responsible sourcing, greenhouse gas emissions, circularity, and downstream certification and claims have met to review proposals, test definitions and provide technical input into the draft standard. These groups have played a key role in shaping both the structure of the framework and the sustainability issues it seeks to address.

The organisation says the consultation period will play a critical role in ensuring the final draft standard reflects the views of the wider glass ecosystem. Feedback is being sought from businesses, customers, recyclers, policymakers, NGOs and other stakeholders before the framework is ratified.

Feedback received over the next 60 days will be used to inform an updated version, which is expected to be published at the start of 2027.

Francis Sullivan, Chair of ResponsibleGlass, said:

“Glass is fundamental to modern life, from buildings and vehicles to solar technology and packaging, yet the sector has never operated under a unified, independent global sustainability framework. The publication of this first ResponsibleGlass Draft Standard is an important milestone in changing that.

ResponsibleGlass brings together the entire value chain, from raw material producers and glassmakers to customers, sustainability experts and civil society organisations, to develop a shared definition of what responsible glassmaking should look like. But a standard is only as strong as the consensus behind it. why we’re now inviting the wider industry, customers, policymakers and civil society to help us build a trusted global benchmark for responsible glassmaking.

Our ambition is to create a trusted benchmark for the industry that accelerates progress on sustainability, drives transparency and helps maximise the positive contribution glass can make to a more sustainable society.”

Matthew Wenban-Smith, Standards Lead:

“Having worked on global standards for decades, from the early days of the FSC for forestry to the establishment of ResponsibleSteel, I have seen first-hand how multi-stakeholder certification can create value for sustainability performance across an industrial sector. With ResponsibleGlass, we are applying that same proven rigour to glass production. While driving down carbon emissions is a critical priority, true sustainability cannot be defined by a single metric. This standard deliberately covers the full ESG spectrum, addressing sustainability data transparency, circularity, resource management, and social impact.  This draft is our starting point, and we now look to the technical expertise and diverse perspectives of the global glass community during this 60-day consultation to ensure the final standard is robust, practical, and highly impactful.”

David Cast, Environment & Climate Change Director, NSG Group:

“We make glass in dozens of plants across multiple continents, using processes that have to work reliably at enormous scale – so when we think about a standard for responsible glassmaking, our first question is always: can this actually be implemented on the factory floor, everywhere we operate, not just in a handful of best-case sites? That’s the perspective we’ve tried to bring as a founding member of ResponsibleGlass — pushing for a Standard that’s ambitious, but also grounded in what’s technically and operationally achievable across a genuinely global industry. Our technical teams have been closely involved in the working groups shaping this draft, stress-testing definitions and criteria against the realities of running furnaces, managing emissions and adapting production lines. Seeing Draft v1.0 published is the result of a huge amount of that kind of detailed, practical work, and we’d encourage manufacturers everywhere — large and small — to look closely at it and respond during the consultation.”

Alan Kight, Chief Sustainability Officer, WE Soda:

“Every piece of glass is only as sustainable as the raw materials that go into it. We are the world’s largest producer of soda ash, a key component of glass making, and we’ve always believed that responsible sourcing upstream matters just as much as what happens downstream. Soda ash is a critical raw material for glass, and so its sustainability credentials must be considered.  Natural soda ash has a significantly lower carbon and water footprint than the synthetic alternatives. A global standard is a credible way for those credentials to be valued by the whole supply chain, right down to the end user. We were glad to be a founding member of ResponsibleGlass, and this first draft  is a significant milestone for the glass industry.”