Italian ceramic industry warns EU climate policies threaten survival and jobs

The Italian ceramic industry has sounded an urgent alarm in Brussels, warning that current EU climate policy , and in particular the sharp rise in costs under the Emissions Trading System (ETS) , risks triggering a systemic crisis for a sector described as “hard-to-abate, highly energy-intensive and strongly export-oriented.” According to the original report, Confindustria Ceramica’s senior management and representatives of leading firms met European institutions, including Commission Vice‑President Raffaele Fitto, on 2–3 December to press for rapid, targeted intervention.

The industry says the sector comprises 248 companies, some 26,000 direct employees (around 40,000 including allied industries) and more than €6.3 billion in exports, and that its competitiveness and investment capacity are being eroded by escalating ETS costs. Confindustria Ceramica warns that, without corrective measures, plants could progressively close in the EU and production relocate to countries with looser environmental and social standards , a classic “carbon leakage” concern raised by energy‑intensive manufacturers.

According to the original report, Augusto Ciarrocchi, president of Confindustria Ceramica, stressed the industry’s prior investment and efficiency gains: ‘Our sector is a world leader in efficiency and emission reduction thanks to investments of 4.3 billion euros over the last decade. But today we are facing a breaking point: the absence of realistic technological alternatives and the uncontrolled dynamics of Ets costs risk wiping out what we have built in a very short time. The Ets system has become a de facto carbon tax that stifles our ability to invest: in just one year, investment in the sector fell by 20%, a drop of EUR 80 million equivalent to the Ets costs paid by our companies, jeopardising competitiveness and jobs. Without immediate corrective measures, Europe will end up rewarding those who pollute outside its borders and penalising those who, like us, really invest in the environment’.

Confindustria’s energy delegate, Aurelio Regina, reiterated the policy plea: “We are at the side of our companies to reverse the course of the crazy European decarbonisation policies that risk deindustrialising the continent,” and argued that Europe’s share of global emissions and the asymmetric global carbon pricing regime call for pragmatic, proportionate instruments rather than what the industry describes as punitive costs. He recommended suspending the ETS until at least 2030 and redesigning its scope , proposals the association frames as necessary to preserve industrial resilience and jobs.

Regional political support accompanied the delegation. Michele De Pascale, president of Emilia‑Romagna, told Brussels that the ceramics district represents an industrial excellence built on digitalised, highly efficient and sustainable plants, and warned that disproportionate regulation could disadvantage responsible EU producers in favour of non‑EU competitors such as China, India or Turkey.

Industry and sectoral organisations also point to wider evidence of stress. Trade data and market analyses show a sharp contraction in recent years for some tile manufacturers, and association studies underline the financial impact of higher carbon prices and the introduction of parallel mechanisms such as ETS2 on energy‑intensive industries. At the same time, sectoral initiatives stress that producers are not passive: Confindustria Ceramica has signed regional agreements for territorial emissions monitoring and launched campaigns emphasising environmental standards, worker protection and community engagement, reflecting efforts to reduce process emissions and improve transparency.

The association and its European counterpart Cerame‑Unie are urging specific policy responses: emergency support for energy and carbon costs, inclusion of ceramic sectors in compensation mechanisms for indirect carbon costs, and a pragmatic review of timelines and instruments so that decarbonisation can proceed without triggering deindustrialisation. Industry sources argue that policy design should balance climate ambition with industrial competitiveness to avoid simply shifting emissions beyond EU borders.

For policymakers focused on industrial decarbonisation, the ceramic sector’s message is straightforward: preserve the incentives and capacity for on‑shoring low‑carbon investment, and ensure transitional measures that prevent the unintended consequence of relocating emissions and jobs outside the EU. Industry data and recent association reports suggest that without such recalibration, companies face investment squeezes and mounting relocation risk that would undermine European industrial policy objectives.