Italy vs. the EU ETS

Italy's opposition to the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) did not emerge overnight. For years, energy-intensive Italian industries, particularly steel, ceramics, cement and chemicals, which together account for a very significant share of national industrial output, have lobbied domestically against what they characterise as a punitive and competitively distorting carbon cost regime. What changed in early 2026 was the elevation of that industrial grievance into a formal, head-of-government-level demand for suspension of the mechanism at the European Council.