ResponsibleGlass aims to improve labour rights and sustainability in glassmaking

“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 at ResponsibleGlass, said: “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 and climate change director at NSG Group, said: “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.”

Knight said: “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.”