On 5 May, Glass for Europe took part in the Sustainable Construction Conference’s Climate Risk, Adaptation & Resilient Construction for Europe’s Built Environment panel. The event provided an opportunity to emphasise the vital role of passive solutions, such as solar control glass, in preventing overheating in buildings.
The second edition of the Sustainable Construction Conference brought together industry leaders and policymakers to tackle some of the built environment’s most pressing challenges from the industrialisation of low-carbon construction to circularity in the sector. Recognising the critical role glazing plays in preventing overheating in buildings, Glass for Europe was invited to join the panel on climate adaptation and resilience.
Adrien Carton, Sustainable Construction & Industrial Policy Manager at Glass for Europe, took part in the discussion alongside Elina Bardram, Director at DG CLIMA; Blaz Kurnik, Head of Unit for Climate Risk and Resilience at the European Environment Agency (EEA); and Thomas Lymes, Policy Director at Eurocities.
The panel centred on a key question: how do we embed resilience into design as the new normal and translate that ambition into concrete solutions on the ground? Adrien Carton made the case for prioritising existing passive solutions, such as solar control glass. These technologies deliver direct benefits independently of consumer behaviour, user intervention, or additional window components making them particularly powerful tools for climate adaptation at scale.
The potential is significant. According to the Global Cooling Watch 2025, a recent UN report, solar control glazing can deliver average energy savings of around 20% and reduce indoor temperatures by approximately 3°C.
Looking ahead, the European Commission’s upcoming Climate Resilience Framework represents an important opportunity. By incorporating a strong educational dimension, the Framework could help raise awareness of proven passive solutions and accelerate their mainstream adoption a necessary step in reducing climate risk across Europe’s building stock.
To learn more about the role of solar control glazing in passive cooling, read our recent paper.
