Brussels, 15 July 2021: With yesterday’s release of the so-called ‘Fitfor55’ package, the European Commission does not fall short of its ambition. In a video reaction to the package, Bertrand Cazes, Secretary General of Glass for Europe, defined this ‘a turning point and a remarkable moment for a sector like ours’ [the flat glass sector].
Philippe Bastien, President of Glass for Europe and Regional President of AGC Glass Europe, explains: “In this journey [the EU climate-neutrality journey], high-tech glazing will play a crucial role to renovate ageing buildings, to support the clean mobility transition and to increase the share of solar energy. In Europe’s flat glass sector, we stand ready to make this essential material available while developing novel ways to lower our own industrial emissions”.
Among the dozen of legislative proposals released by the European Commission, Glass for Europe is particularly supportive of measures which have the potential to support the market uptake of CO2 avoiding products, such as measures aimed at boosting energy efficiency and renewables in both buildings and transport. Among others, Glass for Europe welcomes:
While a clear political direction is provided with this package, Bertrand Cazes stresses ‘that some fine- tuning will be needed (…) for example to make sure this framework supports our industry’s efforts to reduce its manufacturing emissions’. In this respect, some provisions of the EU Emissions Trading System may need improvement to ensure that frontrunners are not penalized and that sectors are thoroughly protected against the risk of carbon leakage. In the same vein, a recast Energy Taxation directive should continue to provide an exemption for ‘mineralogical processes’.
In the field of building policy, Glass for Europe calls on extreme vigilance with regards to the extension of the EU ETS for buildings. While it may generate funds for building renovation, citizen’s buy-in for the measure should remain a pre-requisite.
Based on this first assessment and strong of the experience gathered when developing its vision ‘2050; Flat glass in a climate-neutral Europe’, ‘Glass for Europe will work in the coming months to make sure today’s legislative package does trigger a virtuous decarbonisation cycle’ concluded Glass for Europe’s President, Mr Philippe Bastien.
Links:
[1] https://glassforeurope.com/fitfor55-package-flat-glass-sector/