[2] It is headquartered in PPG Place, an office and retail complex in downtown Pittsburgh, and is known for its glass facade designed by Postmodern architect Philip Johnson.

PPG was also the world's first plate glass plant to power its furnaces with locally produced natural gas, an innovation which rapidly stimulated widespread industrial use of the cleaner-burning fuel.

[10] On 2 January 2008, PPG acquired the SigmaKalon Group of companies for $3.2 billion from private investment firm Bain Capital, strongly increasing its paint and specialty coatings business.

PPG retained 40% ownership of PGW until March 2016 when they sold their stake to automotive parts salvage company LKQ Corporation.

In April 2013, PPG completed the acquisition of AkzoNobel North American architectural coatings business including Glidden, Liquid Nails, and Flood brands.

Elliott, which has a 3.25% stake in the company, claimed it was one of a group of investors that met the Dutch legal threshold of 10% voting-share support, which is needed to call an extraordinary meeting to vote on a proposal to remove Burgmans.

[25] On April 13, Templeton Global Equity said it was among another group of investors calling for an extraordinary meeting of AkzoNobel shareholders to discuss Burgmans' continued tenure as chairman.

[26] Later in the same month Akzo outlined its plan to separate its chemicals division and pay shareholders €1.6 billion in extra dividends, in order to attempt to hold off PPG.

[35] On 2 May, Reuters revealed that the supervisory board of Akzo was meeting to discuss how to deal with PPG's third offer, still maintaining it did not value the company highly enough.

[36] In early May, Akzo again rejected PPG's bid, citing the deal still undervalues the company, as well as potentially facing antitrust risks, and not addressing other concerns such as "cultural differences".

[41] On October 17, 2024, PPG announced its intent to sell its architectural coatings business in the U.S. and Canada to American Industrial Partners for $550 million.

Brands included in the sale are Glidden, Dulux (in Canada), Liquid Nails, Homax, Pittsburgh Paints and Stains, Flood, Sico and Manor Hall.

[50] Lime Lake Reclamation Project of PPG Industries in Barberton, Ohio, received special awards in the National Beneficial Use of Biosolids Program from Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) region 5 in 1998.

[citation needed] According to the book Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild, Pittsburgh Plate Glass ordered employees to dump toxic tar in Bayou D'Inde in Lake Charles, Louisiana.