ROMA (ITALPRESS) – The Italian cement industry calls for institutions: urgent measures are needed to defend the competitiveness of a sector facing the new European rules on emissions and is at the same time threatened by the increase in extra-EU imports. This is what emerged today at the Chamber of Deputies during the meeting “Government of the ETS and ETS2 transition. As an impact for Italy”, where the president of Federbeton Confindustria, Stefano Gallini, asked concrete interventions to put the cement industry in the condition of continuing to guarantee reliable and sustainable materials for the economic and social development of the country. The sector is facing a double challenge today: on the one hand, the opening of the European ETS system (exchange of emission quotas), with rising CO2 costs and less free quotas; On the other hand, the competition of countries that do not apply the same European environmental standards and therefore can produce at lower costs.
Imports in Italy of cement and clinker from outside EU are almost decuplicated in ten years, risking Italian companies. For Gallini, only a rigorous application of the CBAM mechanism (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) will partly rebalance the situation. Another node concerns the distribution of ETS auction proceeds: in 2024 they generated 2,6 billion euros, but only a small part is destined to cement, penalizing a sector considered “hard-to-abate” and strategic for decarbonization. Federbeton asks for more fair criteria for access to funds. Also determining the factor of energy costs: the sector has also been excluded from the recent call of the Ministry of the Environment for the compensation of indirect costs of emissions, despite the high electricity intensity and the risk of delocalization. “The current European rules unjustly exclude the sector – says Gallini –. If it is not possible to include the whole sector, at least the clinker product should be admitted.”.
Federbeton reaffirms the need for effective tools for decarbonization and measures to safeguard the competitiveness of Italian companies, calling for the inclusion of cement between beneficiaries of compensation and a fairer use of ETS funds.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
