Saint-Gobain Glass shortlisted for IOM3 Sustainable Future Award 2025

Saint-Gobain Glass has been shortlisted in the Sustainable Materials Innovation for Net-Zero category at the IOM3 Sustainable Future Awards 2025, recognising the company’s pioneering work in circular economy practices and low carbon glass innovation.

The IOM3 Sustainable Future Awards celebrate individuals and organisations driving progress in sustainability, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and the responsible use of natural resources. The nomination highlights Saint-Gobain Glass’s commitment to decarbonising the built environment through its industry-leading Glass Forever flat glass recycling programme and manufacture of ORAÉ – the world’s first EPD-verified low carbon flat glass product.

Buildings are responsible for approximately 39% of energy-related global carbon emissions, with one-quarter attributed to embodied carbon in materials. Saint-Gobain Glass has responded to this challenge with ORAÉ®, a revolutionary product manufactured with up to 64% recycled content, using renewable electricity, and delivering a 42% lower carbon footprint than standard flat glass.

Backed by a verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification at multiple levels – including Platinum for Material Health and Circularity – ORAÉ® is helping architects, developers, and contractors reduce both embodied and operational carbon without compromising on aesthetics or performance.

To produce ORAE® low carbon glass with high recycled content, Saint-Gobain Glass needs high volumes of end-of-life glass, sourced from across the construction industry. The Glass Forever programme enables end-of-life flat glass to be an infinite raw material, rather than being regarded as waste that is downcycled or discarded into landfill.

Since its launch, Glass Forever has recovered nearly one million tonnes of pre- and post-consumer glass. This can potentially save 1.2 million tonnes of virgin raw materials and can prevent 0.7 million tonnes of CO₂ being released into the atmosphere, underlining the programme’s powerful environmental impact.

Strategic investments at the Eggborough site, including the installation of a cullet processing plant and a new energy-efficient glass furnace, further reinforce the company’s commitment to decarbonisation and materials circularity, which forms part of its strategy to be net-zero by 2050.

Saint-Gobain Glass is working closely with forward-thinking partners across the built environment to realise circularity in action. Highlights include:

• 180 Piccadilly / 30 Duke Street (with GPE, Mace, and KpH) – a landmark London project where end-of-life glass has been recovered, re-manufactured into ORAÉ COOL-LITE® SKN 183, and reinstalled on the new building’s facade.
• Minerva House – a benchmark-setting project in partnership with GPE and Morrisroe, demonstrating real-world implementation of closed-loop glass recycling.
• Eckersley O’Callaghan – an engineering firm collaborating with Saint-Gobain Glass to embed design-for-deconstruction and material reuse strategies at the architectural level.

Through ongoing investment in Industry 4.0 technologies, cullet recovery infrastructure, and technical support for circular specification, Saint-Gobain Glass is enabling emissions reduction across Scope 1, 2 and 3. The company actively supports stakeholders throughout the building lifecycle – from design to deconstruction – to ensure that sustainability is embedded from start to finish.

“Making the world a better home is more than a purpose – it drives every action we take,” said Lee Glover, Sustainability & Net-Zero Delivery Manager at Saint-Gobain Glass. “Being shortlisted for this award reflects our unwavering commitment to sustainability, innovation, and partnership across the construction ecosystem.”

Organised by the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3), the Sustainable Future Awards recognise pioneers driving sustainable practice and innovation in materials, mining and manufacturing, while championing circular economy and social impact.

Award winners will be announced in November.