Exports of selected industries (€ billion) (EU, 2023)
FEVE congratulates the Commission on the extensive set of ambitious, yet achievable measures set out in the Clean Industrial Deal (1) published today. These proposals are a step in the right direction to provide the enabling conditions for our industry's competitiveness, such as lower energy prices, increased supply of renewable and low carbon energy, and better access to grids. But we regret that some sectors (automotive, steel and metals, chemicals) receive particular attention. Many of the measures proposed under the CID rely on additional funding, so the focus on these sectors should not result in insufficient resources being allocated to other critical industries.
This matters because the container glass industry is a crucial pillar of Europe’s economy, supporting high-value sectors such as food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, perfumes and cosmetics (2). In 2023, glass-packaged products accounted for €140 billion in EU exports — 5.7% of total EU exports — exceeding several key industries, including chemicals, aircraft, and mineral fuels (see Figure 2 in end notes). The industry supports more than 45,000 European manufacturing firms — 98% of which are SMEs. When including all glass-packaged goods, container glass and the products it packs accounts for 0.8% of EU GDP — on par with the automotive industry in economic impact (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Value added as % of EU GDP across selected industries (EU, 2021)
The container glass industry is already taking action to address decarbonisation through multiple paths (3), but requires policy certainty, investment, and energy access to complete its transition to climate neutrality. The proposal for an Industrial Decarbonisation Facility is promising to ensure adequate funding is available at EU level to provide the necessary support to decarbonise our industry, both in terms of capital and operational expenditures. However, we are concerned that support for operational expenditures is absent from the draft proposals for the State aid reform, as the high cost of electricity remains one of the main barriers for investing in electrification. The industry asks to:
➢ Secure sufficient availability of low-carbon energy carriers for container glass plants
➢ Ensure the affordability of low-carbon energy carriers for the container glass industry
➢ Promote development of necessary infrastructure for the transport and distribution of low carbon energy carriers to container glass plants
➢ Take into account investment cycles for the container glass industry
➢ Call for increased support for capital and operational decarbonisation expenditure
(1) Link to the EC Clean Industrial Deal
(2) Link to the Syntesia Study on relevance of the Container Glass Industry in the EU economy
(3) Link to the FEVE decarbonisation report
Learn more at www.feve.org