Debate
How can packaging tell a brand’s sustainability story?
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Sustainability is becoming an integral part of brand and packaging strategy.
- Eco-design can combine material efficiency, product protection and brand identity.
- Glass manufacturers are investing in circularity and lower-carbon production.
- The strongest sustainability stories are built on actions and evidence.
Sustainability commitments increasingly influence the way brands design products, work with suppliers and choose packaging.
Packaging is one of the most visible parts of a product. But telling a credible sustainability story takes more than saying the right thing. It starts with concrete choices: using resources efficiently, improving circularity, reducing emissions and working across the value chain.
Sustainability starts with action
Consumers, brands and retailers are paying closer attention to the environmental impact of the products they make and buy.
For businesses, this means turning environmental commitments into changes that can be seen across the value chain. Packaging is part of that equation, from the amount of material used to its recyclability, sourcing and manufacturing footprint.
It also means looking beyond packaging in isolation. Progress depends on collaboration between brands, manufacturers, suppliers and recycling systems.
A shared responsibility
During the original FEVE discussion in 2021, Sandrine Sommer, then Chief Sustainability Officer at Moët Hennessy, highlighted the importance of making sustainability part of business strategy rather than treating it as a separate initiative.
Sustainability is key for Moet-Hennessy and our ambition is to become an inspiring leader of sustainability for luxury wine and spirits. We think it’s a business opportunity to meet consumer expectations, and our duty to engage our community for the common good.
Sandrine Sommer, Moët Hennessy, 2021
That approach is increasingly visible in the luxury sector. Eco-design now covers questions such as reducing unnecessary packaging, optimising bottle weight, incorporating recycled materials and working with suppliers to reduce environmental impacts.
LVMH has set a target for 100% of new products to be designed according to eco-design principles by 2030. In 2025, recycled materials represented 49% of materials used in its client packaging.
Source: LVMH, Our commitment for Environment
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Three ways packaging can move forward
Reducing unnecessary weight and secondary packaging can help brands make more efficient use of resources.
For glass packaging, lightweighting has been developing for decades. In 2025, the average weight of containers produced by the European industry fell to 277 g, while the average standard still wine bottle sold reached 443 g.
The objective is not simply to make packaging lighter. It is to use the right amount of material while maintaining the performance, protection and design the product requires.
Source: FEVE, Annual Report: the 2025 industry update, 2026
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Glass is changing too
CIRCULARITY
Recycled glass is already an important raw material for new bottles and jars.
Improving collection and the quality of cullet can help keep more glass in the closed loop and reduce the need for virgin raw materials.
For brands, packaging design can support this process by considering recyclability from the beginning.
Source: Close the Glass Loop, Roadmap to Optimise Closed Loop Recycling of Glass Packaging
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DECARBONISATION
Circularity is only part of the challenge. Producing glass requires high temperatures, making the energy transition a major priority for the industry.
More than 150 decarbonisation and innovation projects are now underway across the European container glass industry, with manufacturers investing more than €600 million a year in areas including electrification, hybrid furnaces, hydrogen trials and circular logistics.
Source: FEVE, Accelerating the European container glass industry’s energy transition, 2026
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Commitments
need proof
At the time of the original discussion, Michel Giannuzzi, then President of FEVE and Chairman and CEO of Verallia, stressed the importance of setting measurable carbon reduction targets.
At Verallia, we started by getting our carbon reduction target validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative. We’ve committed to investing close to €200 million in the next decade to move to a less carbon-intensive process.
Michel Giannuzzi
That principle remains relevant: ambition becomes more credible when it is connected to targets, investment and measurable progress.
Verallia’s climate trajectory has continued to evolve. Its current SBTi-validated Net Zero pathway targets a 90% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 2040, compared with 2019.
Source: Verallia, Environment: Net Zero trajectory
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Let the packaging tell the truth
Packaging can make a brand’s environmental choices visible, but it should not have to make the story bigger than it is.
A lighter bottle. More recycled material. Packaging designed with recycling in mind. A manufacturing process moving towards lower-carbon energy.
These are concrete actions that can be explained clearly and supported by evidence.
For brands, that creates a simple principle: start with what the packaging actually does, then communicate it in a way people can understand.
Good sustainability communication is not about adding another message to the pack. It is about making real progress easier to see.
