Glass for Europe prepares input for three new public consultations over the summer

The European Commission has launched public consultation on three key policy initiatives for the glass and glazing industry namely the European Affordable Housing Plan, the European Strategy for Housing Construction and the Circular Economy Act. Glass for Europe is actively working during the summer period to formulate comprehensive contributions to each of these consultations.

Following the call for evidence which ended on 4 June (our contribution is available here), the European Commission has launched the official public consultation on the European Affordable Housing Plan. Expected to be published in Q1 2026, the Plan aims to “support EU countries, regions & cities in increasing the supply of affordable and sustainable housing.” The consultation is open until 17 October.

Glass for Europe’s claim is that energy efficiency is intrinsically linked to affordability as it is the best ways to decrease long-term operational costs of buildings. In this context, high-performance glazing and windows must be considered a policy priority, given their crucial role in reducing energy loss when inadequately installed or outdated.

Alongside the European Affordable Housing Plan, the European Commission will present a Strategy for Housing Construction which objective is to support the construction sector so that it can effectively contribute to closing the gap between housing supply and demand whether it is repurposed, renovated and new housing. To do so, the European Commission is collecting data on:
• the root causes of the insufficient supply in view of the high demand,
• the obstacles that construction companies construction product manufacturers face when scaling up innovation
• the barriers to improving the environmental management of construction sites.
The Call for Evidence is open until 18 September.

In parallel, Glass for Europe is preparing its contribution on the Circular Economy Act public consultation open until 6 November. This upcoming legislation is particularly relevant for the flat glass and glazing sector, which advocates for robust support to implement closed-loop recycling systems.
The consultation signals the Commission’s intent to tackle existing bottlenecks, such as the lack of harmonisation in by-product classification. It also explores the introduction of stricter landfill restrictions to improve access to secondary raw materials.
Glass for Europe had already published initial recommendations on this future legislation. The document is available here.