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Europeans voted:
the political dynamics at play
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The elections to the European Parliament held last week are one of the highlights of this year in European politics. For Glass for Europe, they are a decisive moment. Now that results are known, it is Glass for Europe’s task to analyse the outcome and to understand the new political dynamics at play. This task is essential for Glass for Europe to identify and adequately engage with newly elected Members of the European Parliament, whose mission will be to make EU law in the next five-years.
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Thorough analysis will be shared with Glass for Europe’s members in due course and only preliminary remarks can be drawn today. First, this election has shown the highest turnout ever recorded for an election to the European Parliament, unlike initial expectations. Yet the biggest surprise probably lays in the relatively stable split of elected officials coming from pro-European or from Eurosceptic parties. The latter political groups grow in importance but fail to represent more than 30% of the new Chamber. An alliance to find a majority in the European Parliament will thus involve three if not all of the four main European political families that are the Centre Right EPP, the Social Democrats S&D, the Centrist-Liberal ALDE-Renaissance and the Greens. While the Centre-Right EPP and Social Democrats S&D remain the two largest political groups with respectively 180 and 146 seats, they both loose about 30-35 seats each. By contrast, the Centrist-Liberal ALDE-Renaissance and the Greens are both on the rise with respectively 109 and 69 seats, which makes either one or both of them indispensable to any political majority. It is therefore quite likely that the dynamics of searching for compromise between these parties, which was at work in the last five years, will continue prevailing in the European Parliament. On the policy side, more ‘environmentally minded’ choices may come out of this Parliament, compared to the previous one, due to the larger Greens group and the green-minded fringes of the Centrist-Liberal and Social Democrat parties. Although this is still to be seen at times of relevant votes, it could prove supportive to the flat glass sector’s agenda for more energy efficiency and building renovation.
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Yet, Europe’s policies of the next five years will also be driven by many other factors, starting with the other institutional reshuffles to come. In the next weeks and months, a new President of the European Council, a new President of the European Commission and a new college of Commissioners will be nominated by Heads of States and validated by the newly elected Parliament. At time of law-making, the Council of the EU, made of Member States government representatives, will maintain its prominent role and this institution is only marginally affected by last week’s elections.
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In short, no big bang shall be expected but the apparent relative stability may hide subtle changes in influence between people, national dynamics, parties and policies… If these are somewhat difficult to spot, they can be highly relevant to push for the flat glass sector’s agenda.
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All glass and glazing associations’ expertise, networks and political intelligence will be more than ever needed in the months to come!
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EU glass and glazing national associations meet at Glass for Europe
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On May 21, European glass and glazing national associations came to Brussels to participate in the traditional annual workshop organised by Glass for Europe for national glass associations and EU flat glass manufacturers. A must for all European glass stakeholders. Glass for Europe seizes this opportunity to update national associations on the main issues at stake for the flat glass …
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Insignificance of window performance declining rate under EED article 7
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Today, Friday Mars 15th, Bertrand Cazes, Secretary General of Glass for Europe, intervened at the Energy Efficiency Expert Group meeting on the calculation of energy savings under Article 7. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the possibility to develop non-binding lifetime values for calculating energy savings and to assess if applying a declining rate to the measures …
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Maximising energy savings from glazing | EPBD brochure
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Press release Maximising energy savings from glazing A fresh brochure by Glass for Europe to support the development of window- and glazing-proof building codes Brussels, 16 March 2019: Glass for Europe releases today a fresh publication on the Energy Performance of Building Directive, Maximising energy savings from glazing. The purpose of this brochure is to inform all stakeholders working on …
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Insignificant releases of metals from flat glass products
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A new study confirms the insignificant health hazard linked to the release of metals from flat glass products. While the European Commission is considering reviewing the Foods Contact Material Directive on Ceramics (84/500/EEC) and contemplates to enlarge the scope to glass products, a new study undertaken by the Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro reports undetectable or extremely low migration levels of …
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New TNO study quantifies energy savings and CO2 emission reduction potential from glazing
Actionable and targeted policy measures on glazing can already make a huge difference in 10 years, if implemented soon!
Brussels, 13 May 2019: A new study by the Dutch scientific institute TNO, commissioned by Glass for Europe, finds that nearly 30% of Europe’s building energy consumption for heating and cooling could be saved in 2030 if all Europe’s buildings were equipped with high-performance glazing. To Glass for Europe, it is striking to note that almost half of these savings could be realised in as little as 10 years should the renovation rate of windows be doubled, i.e. from 2% to 4% annually, and that newly installed windows be equipped with high-performance glazing.
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The study by TNO is a quantification of both energy and CO2 savings that can be realised for heating and cooling of buildings thanks to high-performance glazing across the 28 EU Member States in both horizons 2030 and 2050. In addition to full potentials, whereby all windows are equipped with high-performance glazing across all EU buildings, it also simulates the impacts of several window replacement rates, all compared to a baseline scenario.
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Leo Bakker, author of the study and Façade expert at TNO, explains: “This study is an update of studies realised by TNO on the same topic a decade ago. It incorporates fresh data, for example on Europe’s building stock and its performance and on the decarbonisation of the energy mix, but its main novelty is that it quantifies savings induced by increased window replacement rates. This allows to identify the potential in window retrofitting, when equipped with high-performance glazing, whose properties were provided by Glass for Europe’s experts”.
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Christian Quenett, Chairman of Glass for Europe and Head of Architectural Glass Europe at the NSG Group, declares: “This study demonstrates once more the massive energy savings and induced CO2 emission reduction that is made possible thanks to high-performance glazing, which are readily available in Europe. Most interestingly, it highlights that these long-lasting savings could be realised rapidly if building and energy-efficiency policies across Europe were effective at supporting a doubling of the building renovation rate and the uptake of high-performance glass products.”
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Bertrand Cazes, Secretary General of Glass for Europe, adds: “When Member States are busy looking for effective climate mitigation measures and designing long-term plans for the renovation of buildings, it arises from this study that Member States can already go a long way with actionable and targeted policy measures on glazing. Support mechanisms to window retrofitting, reviewed performance requirements and incentives to adopt high-performance glazing will make a big difference. The sooner the better!”
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Glass for Europe draws the following conclusions:
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- High-performance glazing in windows offer a massive energy reduction potential: 75 Mtoe representing 29% of building energy consumption for heating and cooling and 94 Million tonnes of CO2 could be saved in 2030 in the EU, should all buildings be equipped with high-performance glazing.
- As much as 36 Mtoe, i.e. nearly half of the full potential, could be realised in 2030 by doubling the window renovation rate from 2% to 4% annually with readily available high-performance glazing. This shows that effective measures to support window replacement and installation of high-performance glazing would be enough to already make substantial building efficiency and decarbonisation progress.
- Cumulated savings between 2020 and 2030, would reach as much 200 Mtoe and above 240 Million tonnes of CO2 thanks to a doubling of the window renovation rate with high-performance glazing. Considering windows offer long-lasting savings, it is in the interest of both citizens and the climate to act rapidly.
- As cooling equipment is expected to boom all across Europe, substantial savings in cooling buildings are to be realised from adequately using high-performance solar-control glass. Energy consumption from cooling could be reduced by 27,6% all across Europe in 2050. In the South of Europe, savings from cooling could reach as much as 36%. It is essential to use the ‘energy balance’ approach to assess performance and to choose glazing that maximise savings from both heating and cooling, without recourse to extra shading equipment.
- Upgrading glazing in buildings enables Europe’s decarbonisation and makes sense in a 2050 perspective when buildings become carbon neutral. Even when Europe’s energy mix is being largely decarbonised, 37,4% of CO2 emissions from buildings could be saved in 2050 thanks to advance glazing. In fact, the contribution of glazing to decarbonisation could turn out to be much higher, as this figure does not encompass savings which will be generated by the uptake of switchable / electrochromic glazing, glazing-integrated photovoltaics or other novel glazing technologies.
Study: TNO, Potential impact of high-performance glazing on energy and CO2 savings in Europe, 2019.
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The flat glass sector and indirect costs under the EU ETS
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On behalf of the flat glass manufacturing sector, Glass for Europe responded to the two consultations launched by the European Commission on the revision of state-aid guidelines in the context of the amended EU ETS directive. These two consultations pursue to objectives: first, to inform the European Commission on the impact of the existing system of compensation to certain industrial …
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Flat glass off-cuts must be considered as by-products
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Since flat glass off-cuts meet all criteria to be considered as by-product set in the Waste framework Directive (2018/851), Glass for Europe calls on Member States to take the necessary measures for a full recognition of this valuable resource for the flat glass industry and facilitate the move to a more circular economy. Flat glass off-cuts are the result of …
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Flat glass manufacturing to be considered an ＂environmentally sustainable activity＂ in the EC taxonomy context
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On February 22, Glass for Europe responded to the consultation launched by the technical expert group on sustainable finance established by the European Commission. In particular, Glass for Europe responded to the consultation on the first proposed selected economic activities that contribute substantially to climate change mitigation. This selection of activities, also known as ‘Taxonomy’, is part of a …
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Glass industry supports an EC industrial transformation Master Plan at High-level Group meeting
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On February 20th, Bertrand Cazes, Secretary General of Glass for Europe, attended the meeting of the High-level Group on Energy Intensive Industries convened by the European Commission. Bertrand Cazes replaced Mr Philippe Bastien, Regional President, Building & Industrial Glass Europe of AGC Glass Europe, who is the official representative of Glass Alliance Europe in this forum. On behalf of …
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