Speaking on March 6 in Rimini during KEY - The Energy Transition Expo, Antonio Gozzi, president of the Italian steel producers association Federacciai, relaunched the debate on the functioning of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), calling on European institutions to consider a temporary suspension of the mechanism in light of the current energy and geopolitical situation.
“In Europe, a broader and more pragmatic discussion is finally opening up on some of the key instruments of the energy transition and their impact on industry. Among these is certainly the ETS system, which over time has progressively turned, in addition to being a decarbonization mechanism, into a real carbon tax exposed to the dynamics of the financial markets,” Gozzi stated.
According to the Federacciai president, in a phase marked by strong international uncertainty and still-elevated energy prices for European companies, it is necessary to carefully assess the impact of the ETS on electricity costs, especially in countries such as Italy where power prices are heavily influenced by gas costs. In this context, a temporary suspension of the ETS could, in his view, help reduce electricity prices “by around €25/MWh”, pending a structural revision of the mechanism at European level.
Gozzi also reiterated that the Italian steel sector is already among the most advanced in terms of decarbonization. “No one can accuse the Italian steel industry of being against the energy transition: we are already among the most decarbonized production systems in the world, with around 85 percent of steel produced via electric arc furnaces. But decarbonization cannot turn into industrial desertification,” he said, stressing the need for a transition guided by “common sense” and capable of safeguarding the environment, competitiveness, and the future of European industry at the same time.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in recent weeks Gozzi had pointed out that the issue of the criticalities of the ETS had entered the European political debate, also following Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s remarks at EU level, stressing that Italy is among the countries most penalized by high energy prices precisely because of the strong incidence of gas-fired power generation in its electricity mix. On that occasion, the Federacciai president had underlined the need for close monitoring of the dossier at EU level, in the interest of European industrial competitiveness