Confindustria: last call for Ets reform, ten proposals for a fair system
Italian industrialists' mission to Brussels
(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - "It is a cry of alarm, we are at the last call: if we do not get our hands back on the Ets system we will no longer do so and in ten years' time there will be little to get our hands on. Italian industry is in favour of decarbonisation, but this must be fair and in line with the objectives of the European single market; this cannot happen if efforts are asked for that are technically and economically unsustainable, a situation that for many sectors means dying or throwing oneself into a ravine'. This is the position of Confindustria as expressed by the vice-president for energy Aurelio Regina on the revision of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading system, which the EU Commission will present in July to reduce the volatility of the Co2 price, mitigate the impact on electricity prices and the costs in industrial supply chains.
Among the ten proposals defined by Confindustria to reform the Ets system, the limitation of the price of quotas by acting on the reserve for market stability also by setting a ceiling on the price of CO2; exclusion of purely financial operators from participation in the auctions; revision of the Ets "benchmarks"; blocking of the reduction of free quotas; support mechanisms for decarbonisation with resources to be found with a common European fund; temporary blocking of the maritime Ets; further postponement of Ets 2 to avoid unsustainable impacts on small businesses and families. Regina, Federacciai president Antonio Gozzi and Assocarta president Lorenzo Poli met the press in Brussels, where they had several institutional meetings.
Regina indicated that the Italian industry, which is supporting the positions expressed by the government at European level on the Ets system, is calling for 'a profound revision of the mechanism adopted in countries that are structurally different in terms of infrastructure and energy policy: this creates asymmetries that are not acceptable within the European Union itself, with a single market that has to compete with the United States and Asia'. In essence, 'it is a matter of ensuring that the decarbonisation process is compatible with the needs of industry, is effectively
sustainable for businesses and citizens'. With the ongoing geopolitical crises and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the revision of the Ets 'is a decisive step, it is being clamoured for not only by Italia but also by other important states. It is a matter of guaranteeing the industry's survival, the system must be in line with its potential, with actual technological developments, because one cannot imagine objectives that cannot be achieved either industrially or economically. That is why the revision must be profound: it would be very serious if it resulted in a few warm nappies, in small changes, the revision must affect the fundamental mechanisms of the Ets system'.
The most exposed Italian sectors in the Ets game are the energy-intensive ones most exposed to international (often unfair) competition: steel, ceramics, paper, cement. Regina recalled that they employ more than one million people and represent 'the basic backbone of the economy, which has a strategic value in terms of the security of the industrial system. In Europe, this means not having to depend on other economic systems. A factor of strategic autonomy, therefore'.
