The Year of Glass
The International Year of Glass was officially launched in France during a conference at the Senate on Friday 11 February 2022.
This conference, jointly organised by the Federation of Glass Industries and the Glass and Crystal Federation, brought together glass companies including Verallia, Saint-Gobain, Saint-Louis and the Groupe Pochet.
Catherine Dumas, Senator for Paris and President of the Métiers d’Art study group, spoke first, recalling her wonderment at the glassmaking know-how that requires technical gestures and dexterity. Addressing the glass companies, she said that “they (referring to the glass companies) represent art crafts that are part of the French territory and contribute to the international reputation of France”, adding that the International Year of Glass was an opportunity to “make the public aware of the ubiquity of this material, the various associated crafts and the potential for innovation”.
Decarbonisation plan
Jacques Bordat, President of the Federation of Glass Industries and Jérôme de Lavergnolle, President of the Federation of Crystal and Glass, reminded the audience that glass is “a versatile material, which has survived throughout history and which is part of our daily lives, while at the same time being a material of the future”; the challenge is to “decarbonise glass production to ensure a sustainable future”.
Irène Gosset, President of the Groupe Pochet, took part in a round table discussion on the decarbonisation of the glass industry, which was also attended by Emmanuel Normant, VP in charge of sustainable development at Saint-Gobain and Olivier Rousseau, Managing Director of Verallia France.
The Groupe Pochet announced that it was working on an ambitious Decarbonisation Plan for the next 10 years, as well as a project to electrify a furnace. With this plan, we are accelerating our efforts to reduce our environmental impact and are making strong commitments to reduce our CO2 emissions by more than 40% by 2030,” says Irène Gosset.
