Augusto Ciarrocchi: “This is how Europe is pushing its ceramic industry into a corner”

A stark warning from the President of Confindustria Ceramica, calling on European decision-makers to change course on the ETS.

The President of Confindustria Ceramica (the Italian ceramic manufacturers’ association), Augusto Ciarrocchi, issues a renewed warning over the choices made in Brussels regarding the revision of the ETS system.

“The ceramic sector, a global leader in aesthetics, technological innovation and sustainability, is today being pushed into a corner by a pathway that seems to ignore reality and focuses obsessively solely on CO₂ emissions — emissions that would in fact increase if we were to shut down production, due to imports from India, China and other non-EU countries.”

“We want to invest, we want to continue innovating and be part of the transition, if and when we are realistically able to do so. But the truth is that, at present, there are still no technological solutions or available energy carriers that would make the decarbonisation pathway envisioned in Brussels feasible. What is most striking — or rather alarming — is the widespread blindness in the face of this clear evidence.”

“I understand that for some European countries ceramics may appear to be a marginal sector. But I cannot accept the idea of a Europe that, in pursuing an ideal without the necessary tools, sacrifices fundamental elements of its industrial identity, without an overall vision, continuing to set impossible benchmarks while ignoring today’s geopolitical and energy turmoil.”

“What is needed is realism and speed in decision-making. Today, there is a lack of urgency, a lack of concrete awareness of what is actually happening. Do we really need to wait until the recession reveals itself in its full severity? I refuse to believe that, and I continue to hope for a change of course — an act of clarity and rationality on the part of European decision-makers. Because time is no longer an infinite resource: it is a countdown.”