Heating systems: the end of the superbonus takes its toll – the market has halved in four years
Cortexa, the trade association, has criticised the lack of a long-term support policy: the sector is now at risk
Key points
The Italian market for thermal coats is declining. Figures have halved compared with 2023, whilst the superbonus. There is a risk that, in the coming years, the production chain established in Italia will no longer be able to sustain itself. The alarm was raised by Cortexa, the consortium representing companies in the insulation sector, during a meeting in Milan.
The key issues with the budget
The association highlights, in several places, the lack of action in recent years: from the failure to transpose the EPBD Directive (the Green Homes Directive), which was intended to usher in a new era of energy efficiency in Italian buildings, to issues relating to the budget, such as the failure to increase the 65 per cent eco-bonus and the mandatory spreading of credits linked to the super-bonus over ten years. All these issues are creating tensions in a market that is going through a difficult phase.
Market decline
The thermal insulation of buildings is, in fact, experiencing a period of sharp decline in volumes. So far in 2026, we have reached a total of around 22 million square metres of external wall cladding installed. This represents a 16 per cent fall compared with the previous year. However, looking at the trend over recent seasons, it becomes clear that the reduction has been very sharp: -33% compared with 2024 and -55% compared with 2023. If this trend continues for another year, the association fears the viability of the entire national production chain is at risk.
Column: ‘We need a long-term policy’
“We do not need one-off measures or constant adjustments: what is needed is a long-term policy capable of supporting families, designers and businesses. Energy-efficiency refurbishment is an environmental, economic and social choice, and we cannot put it off any longer. We risk impoverishing the market in terms of both skills and production capacity,” explains Filippo Colonna, president of Cortexa.
Ecobonus to be increased to 65 per cent
A change of direction could well come from the Green Homes Directive . ‘We call for the transposition of the EPBD Directive to be incorporated into the 2026 European Delegation Act and for this to give rise to a detailed national roadmap, with stable rules and predictable incentives, linked to clear and verifiable quality criteria, including with regard to the choice of solutions, the qualifications of designers and installers’. This should be accompanied by changes to the Ecobonus, raising it to 65 per cent, whilst also revising the single spending cap introduced in the latest version of the Budget Act.
