Ceramics, Confindustria and trade unions to EU: 'Review the new Ets 2026-2030 parameters'
'They risk inflicting damage on companies, thousands of jobs at risk'
Tomorrow in Brussels a game will be decided that, for the Sassuolo ceramic district, is worth much more than a technical step. On 10 June, the European Commission will present its proposal to revise the Ets, the system that regulates the market for CO2 emission quotas. It is within this political window that Confindustria Ceramica and the trade unions choose to present a united front. The association of companies and Filctem CGIL, Femca Cisl and Uiltec Uil have signed a shared position on the new Ets benchmarks for the period 2026-2030, judged to be distant from the production reality and technologies available today. The request is clear: maintain the current values, at least until the overall revision of the system.
The point, for ceramics, is anything but abstract. In the European Emissions Trading Scheme, benchmarks are used to define how much free quota is due to companies exposed to international competition, with the aim of avoiding relocation. If the benchmark drops, the free quota is reduced and the portion to be bought on the market increases. For an energy-intensive industry, already squeezed between energy costs and non-EU producers, the effect can be heavy. According to estimates by Confindustria Ceramica and the trade unions, for Italian tile manufacturers the new benchmarks would raise direct Ets costs from about 70 to 120 million euros per year. An increase that would not produce equivalent benefits in terms of reducing emissions, but would aggravate an under-allocation of quotas that is already weighing on the financial balances of many companies. Hence the denunciation of a system that risks 'punishing those who produce and work in Europe'.
The stance comes after weeks in which the issue has returned to the centre of debate in the district. It was also discussed on Friday in Milano Marittima, where the European federation of ceramic manufacturers met to take stock of the sector's emergencies. For Sassuolo, the heart of Italian and European ceramics, the review is not a regulatory issue, but a competitiveness issue. The companies claim, however, that they have not stood still. In the last ten years the sector has invested over 4.3 billion euro in innovation and energy efficiency, with an average incidence of 7% of turnover. It is precisely for this reason that industry and trade unions are contesting the construction of the new parameters, which they consider to be opaque and not aligned with real data. The request is that the resources generated by the Ets return to the companies, tied to research and development, renewables and investments capable of safeguarding competitiveness and employment. It will therefore be discussed tomorrow, in what the government already considers a half victory. 'Italia's proposal to reform the Ets has been accepted,' claimed the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso, 'and on 10 June there will be a proposal from Europe.
There is also an environmental paradox on the table. Without corrections, the social partners warn, Europe risks weakening its manufacturing without reducing global emissions, favouring the import of products from India and China, where emission levels are higher. This is the issue of carbon leakage: factories under pressure in Europe and production shifted to where environmental rules are less stringent. A unified message is now coming from the ceramic district: the transition must be made, but it cannot become such a cost that it pushes the most advanced European factories out of the market.
