The European glass manufacturing industry will focus on FurnaceS for the Future as it aims to become a climate neutral production sector.

European glass manufacturers will individually invest in designing breakthrough technology and scaling up electric melting at a commercial scale. These breakthrough technologies will be the Furnaces of the Future.

The news comes after the sector’s bid for funding for research into its Furnace for the Future project was turned down by the EU.

The European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) said: “Without the EU grant, the project cannot be pursued as initially planned. However, the industry remains committed to climate neutral production and is now evaluating how to proceed with their decarbonisation efforts.”

It added: “Throughout Europe, many individual company initiatives are already launched or taking shape to design the Furnaces for the Future.

“This pathway continues to represent one of the strategic paths to securing not only the future of the European glass industry, but the future of the entire glass packaging value chain (food & drinks, pharma, perfumes, glass recyclers) that depend on it.”

The 19 glass manufacturers which formed the project are Allied Glass, Ardagh Group, BA Glass, Beatson Clark, Gerresheimer, GCA, O-I, Pochet du Courval, Saverglass, SGD Pharma, Steklarna Hrastnik, Stoelzle, Verallia, Verescence, Vetreria Etrusca, Vetropack, Vidrala, VCP and Wiegand-Glas, alongside FEVE.