Editor's Note
This editor’s note highlights the key facts and market implications behind “European Ceramics Awaits Brussels: Pushes to Avo”, with emphasis on sourcing, product fit, fabrication, logistics, or buyer impact.
European ceramics, with Spain and Italy as the main producers, is still awaiting the definitive publication by the European Commission of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for the period 2026–2030. The community authorities remain silent for the moment and avoid specifying whether they will accept the requests not only of the tile sector but of all the continent's strategic industries, which warn that the new regulations will imply additional costs that could put their continuity at risk.
Regarding ceramics, the sector warns that the ETS will mean "a new tax in practice," which could amount to 160 million euros in the Spanish case, as the necessary technology to achieve decarbonization within the EU's deadlines does not yet exist. Furthermore, the tile sector warns that it will facilitate the entry of imports from competitor countries that, in many cases, lack environmental regulation.
Therefore, the European sector insists on demanding a freeze of the new ETS and the incorporation of ceramics into the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). At this time, European ceramics is outside the CBAM, so the industry considers that the reduction of free CO₂ emission allowances until 2030 would have a double impact on companies: on one hand, it would reduce their investment capacity by having to increase spending on purchasing carbon allowances; and on the other, it would open the doors even wider to competitor countries that operate with lower prices and without environmental requirements.
This is one of the key points of the manifesto "For the future of European ceramics," presented in March before the European Parliament by the ceramic employers' associations of Spain and Italy, with the support of regional institutions and different political groups, such as PP, PSOE and Compromís.
The CBAM is a carbon border adjustment mechanism that the EU activated in 2023 as a measure to compensate the European industry in its decarbonization process against the pressure from third countries that are not subject to the same restrictions. The aim is to avoid a loss of competitiveness and possible relocations (hence the name carbon leakage), although the ceramic industry, for now, has been left out.
The ceramics of Spain and Italy again called on the EU at the last Coverings fair in the United States. The Spanish employers' association Ascer warned then that the mechanism under review represents "a decision disconnected from industrial reality," which could generate highly penalizing effects for a sector already subjected to strong cost pressure, especially energy costs.
“Se trata de un enfoque profundamente erróneo”
The benchmarks for the allocation of free allowances – designed for installations exposed to the risk of carbon leakage – are considered "unrealistic," as they are calculated based on the performance of installations in other industrial sectors, including those that can use biomass as an energy source.
"It is a deeply mistaken approach," pointed out, for their part, the Italian employers' association Confindustria, "because the ceramic sector, for technological reasons and objective limitations, cannot use biomass as an alternative fuel."
In this line, the sector demands its inclusion in the CBAM to achieve a competitive balance until CO₂ reduction regulations are harmonized worldwide. It also asks that the mechanism contemplate compensation for carbon costs in exports to guarantee fair competition between European companies and those from non-EU countries. According to the tile sector, the new regulations could mean an additional cost of 160 million euros annually for tiles and 55 million for the frits and glazes sector.
Possible Paradox: Fewer Emissions from Local Industry but More Polluting Imports
CO₂ emissions would be reduced at the cost of the closure or relocation of local industry, while imports from more polluting countries would increase on the old continent. The European Commission has to publish the definitive resolution on the new emissions system for 2026-2030. The sector urges a review of the initial proposal to guarantee its continuity in the face of pressure from polluting non-EU producers.
Source: Read the original article | Published: April 22, 2026