An industry-wide working group has announced the launch of the ‘Sustainable Print Manifesto,’ an independently developed, industry-wide initiative created to provide a simple, practical and universally relevant framework to increase sustainability across all print sectors.
The project is grounded in the belief that the print industry must collaborate more, not less, if it is to accelerate progress. Today, too many sustainability efforts remain fragmented — shaped by local regulation, technology limitations, individual company priorities, or regional nuances. The new Sustainable Print Manifesto aims to rise above these silos, offering a globally relevant blueprint for continual improvement, shared learning, and improved collective progress.
The manifesto’s purpose is simple: to create a shared language for sustainable print. One that demystifies complexity and empowers every print business to take meaningful action to be more sustainable. Whether commercial print, packaging, wide format, textiles, labels or industrial manufacturing, the Manifesto is deliberately print-agnostic and compatible with any process, technology, or business model.
Unlike traditional top-down standards, the Manifesto has no single author. It has been shaped collaboratively through 11 working-group meetings, a multi-stakeholder summit in Valencia, a series of webinars, and multiple in-depth articles. Over the past 12 months, printers, manufacturers, brands, retailers, technologists, consultants, and trade bodies have contributed insight, challenged assumptions, and co-authored a document designed to unify the industry around clear, actionable sustainability principles.
Brands and retailers have also been consulted throughout its development, ensuring the document aligns with real-world requirements, expectations, and future-facing sustainability priorities. Rather than replacing the work of associations or existing frameworks, the Manifesto is designed to act as a neutral, unifying north star – one that sits above technical and regulatory silos and is accessible to any business, anywhere in the world.
A clear set of nine practical principles
At the heart of the Manifesto is a set of nine practical, non-competitive principles that any organization can adopt immediately. These principles focus on real-world actions that improve environmental performance today – without large investment or radical operational change.
They include: designing print for purpose; producing efficiently; choosing better, lower-impact materials and inks; minimizing waste; reducing carbon and energy consumption; improving water stewardship; applying finishing only where it adds value; recycling and reusing operational materials; and communicating impacts transparently using accurate, data-led reporting. Grounded in lifecycle thinking, the nine principles provide a universally relevant, accessible framework that scales for businesses of any size, in any sector, anywhere in the world.
Collaborative, unified and ambitious future
As the initiative grows, industry organizations, suppliers, printers, finishing companies, technology providers, and brands are invited to pledge their support. The ambition is to create a global community committed to learning, acting, and helping each other advance sustainable practice – ultimately positioning the print industry as a beacon of responsible innovation for the wider manufacturing world.
Representing one of the founding partners, Carlos Lahoz from HP commented, ‘I believe in the value of print and the positive impact it has in the world. But I also believe that there’s still room for improvement. To accelerate innovation and progress, collaboration is key. Collaboration built on trust and transparency, towards a shared goal. This is what this manifesto aims for, and this is why I pledge to its principles.’ This commitment to collaborative progress is echoed by many of the organizations backing the Sustainable Print Manifesto.
Founding partners and supporting associations
To make this independent initiative possible, a group of visionary founding partners have provided financial and strategic support to underwrite its development.
These include: HP, CarbonQuota, Gallus, Domino Printing Sciences, FuturePrint, Sun Chemical, Nazdar, Kavalan, io.tt, CPI Books, The PackScout, CIMPRESS, and Bespoke.
The manifesto also has the backing of key global trade bodies, including BPIF & IPIA (UK), VIGC (Belgium), and PRINTING United Alliance (USA).
Call to action
The Sustainable Print Manifesto is now available for download, and all organizations within the print and packaging value chain are invited to read it and share it, action its suggestions and even pledge their support. While this document will continue to evolve as the collaboration grows, today it marks a collective commitment from across the industry to create a clearer, more coherent and more impactful pathway towards a sustainable future for print.
