Federacciai supports the Italian government’s position on the EU Green Deal

The Italian Steel Producers Federation (Federacciai) last week expressed its full support for the Italian government’s position on the European Green Deal, SteelOrbis reports.

During a recent address to the Italian Senate ahead of the European Council meeting, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on the European Commission to make adjustments to this policy, otherwise the country would withdraw its support for new green initiatives.

Meloni noted that the country wants to abandon an ideological approach in favor of serious pragmatism. Italy’s demand is not to limit itself to minor revisions of the process, but to change the paradigm.

The Italian Prime Minister, writes Il Sole24ore, pointed to several areas where this change in approach should take shape. The first is the consideration of renewable energy sources as one component, but not the only one, of a balanced system that is technologically equipped to curb emissions as much as possible. The government is also asking to allow up to 5% (of EU climate targets and national targets) to be counted as “international credits,” i.e., international cooperation projects to combat carbon emissions that the bloc and member states finance in third countries.

The country’s second condition is the full application of the principle of technological neutrality to all EU climate legislation, starting with the automotive and heavy industrial sectors, where there are technical constraints to the green transition. The third point concerns financing, because, according to Meloni, no transition is really possible without the allocation of adequate resources.

As Federacciai President Antonio Gozzi noted, the government has finally taken a clear and firm position on the European Green Deal. According to him, this is an important signal that goes in the direction long indicated by industry: climate and environmental goals cannot be set without ensuring their achievability and economic sustainability.

According to Gozzi, the Green Deal should be understood as a genuine European industrial policy capable of supporting decarbonisation and innovation in companies, but with deadlines, instruments, and rules that correspond to economic realities.

It should be noted that EU environment ministers are to agree on climate targets for 2040 in early November – no decisions were made at last week’s summit in Brussels.

On the eve of the EU summit, the bloc’s leaders planned to agree on a new climate target for 2040, but demanded that the bloc provide greater support for industries such as steel industry and automotive manufacturing in order to achieve it.