Silhouette Group to eliminate fossil natural gas at Linz eyewear production by April 2026

Silhouette Group announced that its eyewear production in Linz will operate entirely without fossil natural gas starting in April 2026. The transition involves electrifying key production steps, projected to save several hundred megawatt-hours of natural gas and over 100 tons of CO₂ annually. A significant milestone was achieved in 2025 when the coating facility’s exhaust air purification system switched from gas-fired afterburning to electric power using renewable electricity, saving approximately 363 MWh of gas and reducing emissions by about 85 tons of CO₂e per year. The final conversion step in 2026 targets the last gas-heated warehouse, expected to save an additional 70 MWh of natural gas and around 18 tons of CO₂e annually. Thomas Windischbauer, COO of Silhouette Group, stated that eliminating natural gas demonstrates that emission reduction measures can be economically viable.