Sustainability Update 2025

All the details and figures of AGC Glass Europe’s decarbonisation journey in 2024 can now be found in the updated Sustainability section of the corporate website. 

Leading our industry to decarbonise

The AGC Group’s sustainability objective is to reduce the company carbon footprint by 30% in 2030 (FY2019, scope 1+2+3) and achieve net zero carbon (scope 1+2) by 2050. To contribute to this objective, AGC Glass Europe set out a carbon reduction roadmap that takes all parts of the value chain into consideration. AGC Glass Europe monitors its carbon footprint on a yearly basis. According to GHG calculations, it is estimated that in 2024 the Carbon Footprint of AGC Glass Europe was 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂ eq.(*). which marks a gradual progress in its net-zero trajectory.
AGC Glass Europe's 2024 carbon footprint report highlights its commitment to sustainability through key initiatives, including the procurement of low-carbon electricity sources, the Recycle Glass service, the ISO 50001 certification of its operations and pioneering projects such as Volta. The impact of these initiatives is also reflected in the gradual improvement of the total quantities of CO₂ emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3) generated due to AGC Europe’s activities, calculated relative to the melted tonnes.
Further details and graphs can be found here. 

Decarbonisation highlights of 2024

Use of renewable and low-carbon electricity 
In 2024, the total use of electricity coming from photovoltaic installations reached 20.8 GWh. This is a remarkable increase, close to 90% vs 2023 production. Renewable and low-carbon electricity projects at AGC play a pivotal role in reducing our reliance on grid electricity and minimizing associated CO₂ emissions. These initiatives are complemented by the use of Guarantees of Origin (GOs) for various sites, ensuring transparency and traceability in our renewable and low-carbon energy sourcing. Leveraging the AIB (Association of Issuing Bodies) system, AGC has secured GOs for 148 GWh of electricity in 2024, reinforcing our dedication to low-carbon energy solutions. In 2024 the total usage of electricity from low-carbon sources has been 211 GWh. Read more here. 

Glass Recycling
In 2024, AGC Glass Europe recycled about 730,000 tonnes of cullet, saving about 875,000 tonnes of raw materials and about 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions (direct & indirect). The average cullet ratio in our raw materials is close to 30% and AGC aims to increase this ratio to 50% by 2030. Out of the average 30% cullet ratio, the major part comes from internal cullet. To increase our cullet ratio to 50% by 2030, we need to find ways to increase the pre-consumer and end-of-life cullet. Therefore AGC launched "AGC Recycle Glass", a program for delivering flat glass circularity. Read more on glass recycling here. 

ISO 50001 Certification for all the Architectural Upstream Operations
All AGC Glass Europe’s Architectural Upstream production sites have successfully achieved ISO 50001 certification across all three business units: Primary raw glass, Industrial & Solar glass and Fire Resistant glass . ISO 50001 is a voluntary standard for designing, implementing and maintaining an energy management system. Energy management is a prerequisite for energy-efficient operations and an important pillar of AGC's decarbonization roadmap and competitiveness. The implementation of ISO 50001, that started in 2023, is a milestone and a great achievement that was only possible thanks to the commitment, operational excellence and collaborative effort of multiple departments and teams across AGC’s production sites. Read more on our ISO 50001 certification here.

Volta: accelerating the flat glass industry’s decarbonization
On 12 February 2025, the revolutionary Volta** flat glass production line was inaugurated. The production line in AGC's Barevka plant was reconstructed in 2024 and is now 50% electrified and 50% fired by a combination of oxygen and gas, allowing for a significant reduction in direct carbon emissions. The new technology also focuses on circularity as the Volta hybrid melting furnace will operate at a higher ratio of recycled materials, much higher than the industry standards. The Volta R&D project, supported by the EU Innovation Fund, is a cooperation between AGC and Saint-Gobain, and combines the technical know-how and innovative approaches of both companies. More on the Volta project page.  

Glass at the heart of sustainable architecture 

Low-Carbon Glass
Thanks to a holistic approach to decarbonise, AGC Glass Europe is offering its customers Low-Carbon float glass with significantly less embodied carbon since 2022. It can now also be supplied – after further processing in compliance with the same holistic principles - in AGC’s key ranges of functional glazing products, such as safety glass, insulation glass and solar control glass. AGC successfully produced its first Low-Carbon Glass at the AGC plant in Moustier (Belgium). in 2024, the AGC plants in Seingbouse (France) and Osterweddingen (Germany) also started producing Low-Carbon float and now many AGC production lines are producing Low-Carbon Glass products. Read more on AGC Low-Carbon Glass here. 

AGC launches its externally verified EPD Generator
In 2024, AGC Glass Europe launched its Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Generator, a powerful tool designed to facilitate sustainable decision-making in the construction industry. This unique tool has been externally verified to ensure that the EPDs it generates are fully compliant with standards EN ISO 14025:2010, NF EN 15804+A2:2019 and its national addition NF EN 15804+A2/CN:2022, guaranteeing the quality and reliability of the underlying environmental assessments. It has also been expanded to include AGC’s range of Low-Carbon products. With this innovative tool, AGC is now capable of automatically generating verified EPDs for a large proportion of its product portfolio. Read more on EPD here.

(*) The GHG results use the Market--based scenario for Scope 2 calculations. Results include Automotive and Architectural division – AGC sites in 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Morocco, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

(**) The Volta project is funded by the Innovation Fund of the European Union. 
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.