{"id":460042,"date":"2026-07-15T14:33:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/07\/15\/revisione-dellets-alle-porte-italia-e-altri-9-paesi-chiedono-che-sia-pragmatica-ed-equa\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T15:17:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:17:38","slug":"as-ets-reform-approaches-italy-and-nine-other-countries-urge-a-pragmatic-and-fair-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/07\/15\/as-ets-reform-approaches-italy-and-nine-other-countries-urge-a-pragmatic-and-fair-review\/","title":{"rendered":"As ETS reform approaches, Italy and nine other countries urge a “pragmatic and fair” review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Pragmatism. With the presentation of the long-awaited review of the ETS \u2013 the European Emissions Trading Scheme \u2013 due to take place on Friday 17 July, this is the word that several EU national governments are repeating in unison to safeguard Europe\u2019s industrial future. In particular, ten Member States are calling on the European Commission for \u201ca pragmatic review of the system<\/strong>\u201d to \u201cstrike a balance between environmental protection and industrial competitiveness.\u201d A revision that takes into account \u201cthe new European priorities: boosting competitiveness (including through affordable energy prices), security and resilience, as well as maintaining a strong manufacturing base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signing a joint declaration<\/a> are Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia<\/strong>. While acknowledging the positive contribution of the ETS to reducing emissions, the ten countries stress that the challenges facing European industry due to geopolitical developments are considerable and require \u201cpragmatic and fair action to restore Europe\u2019s status as an industrial power.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

The signatories are therefore calling for a \u201cclear and realistic\u201d path. In their view, the current target of achieving near-zero emissions by 2039<\/a> risks \u201cdriving industries out of Europe.\u201d For this reason, they propose postponing the ETS target, bringing it closer to 2050<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The letter also calls for a review of the benchmarks<\/a> methodology to better reflect technological and industrial realities. The ten Member States also oppose a<\/strong> \u201cgeneral conditionality\u201d applied to all free allowances<\/strong> and suggest that this be limited solely \u201cto additional allowances for those making extra efforts.\u201d<\/strong> They also call for the phasing out of free allowances in sectors covered by the CBAM<\/a> \u2013 the carbon border adjustment mechanism \u2013 to be suspended until this new instrument has proven its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

According to the signatories, the ETS reform must be \u201cmore flexible to take account of each country\u2019s specific circumstances, such as its energy mix and per capita GDP.<\/strong>\u201d Another key point concerns the predictability of the CO\u2082 price. \u201cThe price of CO\u2082 must be predictable and immune to speculation.” <\/strong>The countries also stress that \u201cprices must remain affordable to maintain the global competitiveness of European businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The declaration then devotes one paragraph each to the maritime sector, aviation, and ETS2, the new scheme for buildings and transport. For the maritime sector, the ten countries call for measures to prevent <\/strong>\u201ccarbon leakage<\/strong>\u201d by stopping traffic from shifting from EU ports to hubs in neighbouring third countries. They also call for support for global solutions within the IMO framework<\/a> and the retention of exemptions for essential public services. With regard to aviation, \u201cthe review must take into account the characteristics of international air transport and the evolution of the CORSIA negotiations<\/a>, ensuring a level playing field<\/strong> for European operators.\u201d Finally, regarding the new system for buildings and transport, the ten signatories argue that ETS2 must be \u201ccarefully reconsidered<\/strong>\u201d because \u201cit is a particularly sensitive instrument from a social perspective<\/strong> and primarily affects the most vulnerable households, who are already disproportionately affected by the fuel price crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The ten countries are therefore calling for a comprehensive review of the current ETS structure<\/strong>. From previews provided by the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, in May,<\/a> it had emerged that the European Commission\u2019s proposal would include an \u201cassessment for the more gradual phasing out of free allowances,\u201d<\/strong> that is, the CO\u2082 emission allowances allocated free of charge by the European Union to certain industrial sectors<\/strong>. A more gradual phase-out, in the Commissioner\u2019s words, will extend the timeframe for achieving climate neutrality because \u201cit will allow for emissions in 2040 and beyond.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The joint declaration has been signed by Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The European Commission is expected to present its proposal for a revision on Friday 17th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":460013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30800,30805],"tags":[25871,27145,26955,34130,33392,29899,34131,34866,34867,27238],"class_list":["post-460042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-industry-markets","tag-aviation-en","tag-carbon-en","tag-emissioni-carbonio","tag-energia","tag-ets-en","tag-ets2","tag-marittimo","tag-sistema-di-scambio-di-emissioni","tag-wopke-hoekstra-and"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460043,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460042\/revisions\/460043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}