Adding to the dialogue on the transition towards a climate-neutral society, the European Economic and Social Committee has called for more action to be taken to protect the European glass industry.

The EESC is asking EU policymakers to put the glass sector at the heart of current policy priorities such as the "Fit for 55" package, the Circular Economy Package, the Digital Agenda, the strategic value chains agenda and the EU's international trade policy and associated instruments.

The EESC has welcomed the EU policies that support the glass industry in order to enable the transition towards a climate-neutral society. It sees the EU's Renovation Wave as a tremendous source of business opportunities for glass, triggering investments while contributing enormously to the reduction of CO₂ emissions from buildings. However, the EESC has strongly recommended that an energy transition also take place within the glass sector, which should receive financial support for both capital and operational expenditure and should not be exposed to unfair competition from outside the EU market.

In its own-initiative opinion on the subject, adopted at its October plenary session, the EESC calls for multiple parallel actions to deliver a greener, energy-efficient glass industry, while enhancing competitiveness and maintaining quality jobs.

"Glass is everywhere, from mobility to construction, from defence to smartphones. To fully tap the potential of the new glass market while living up to the challenges of the green and digital transitions, the EU needs an industrial strategy for glass", said the opinion rapporteur, Aurel Laurenţiu Plosceanu.

The EESC calls on the Commission and the Parliament to develop new EU policies regarding climate goals and strategic value chains in order to restart the production of photovoltaic cells in Europe and safeguard the production of other strategic glass products and the related value chains.

The EESC noted that the EU glass industry is at a crossroads. On the one hand, glass has to cope with the structural transformations accompanying the digital and green transitions. Production will have to become carbon neutral and circular in three decades, while processes will be even more automated and digital in the coming years.

On the other hand, glass will be at the forefront of those transitions and there will be new business opportunities for many glass products in the coming years.

"The EU should classify glass as a permanent material and should recognise its benefits in contributing to sustainable packaging systems and circular economy principles. There is great potential to create new jobs in the glass recycling sector, and to attract new talented workers,'' said Gerald Kreuzer, co-rapporteur for the opinion.

The EESC therefore urges the EU to recognise that glass is vital for the production of green energy. (ks)