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Italy to ask for immediate EU ETS suspension

  • Märkte: Electricity, Emissions
  • 11.03.26

Italy will ask for an immediate suspension of the EU's emissions trading system (ETS) for fossil fuel-fired power producers to help curb energy prices ahead of a more comprehensive review of the system later in the year, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday.

"It's a measure that's needed now and at least until global fossil fuel prices return to the levels they were at before the Middle East crisis," Meloni said in parliament. "Our expectation is that the EU allows us to change quickly, and structurally, this counterproductive mechanism."

Meloni, addressing the upper house on the Middle East crisis ahead of a European Council meeting next week, said ETS costs accounted for around a quarter of Italian consumer bills, or around €30/MWh.

The ETS is essentially a "tax" that Europe seeks to slap on high-carbon energy but which in the end sets prices for all operators, including renewable generators who do not pay it, Meloni said.

Meloni said she would also ask Brussels to consider proposals to extend free ETS allowances for energy-intensive industries such as steel, paper and ceramics, and reduce ETS price volatility by introducing a cap or excluding non-industrial players from the ETS market to avoid speculation.

With regard to the oil market impact of the war in the Middle East, Meloni said: "Talks are under way on what instruments can be used… to defend and safeguard the freedom of shipping in the strait of Hormuz."


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