Portuguese ceramics industry warns of risks from EU carbon rule reforms amid calls for protective measures

Portugal’s ceramic producers are urging the government to back Spain and Italy in pressing Brussels to freeze or redesign the rules for the next phase of EU carbon benchmarks, warning that a sharper cut in free emissions allowances could hit an industry already under intense cost pressure.

The appeal comes as the European Commission prepares to update the benchmarks that determine how many free carbon permits energy-intensive manufacturers receive under the EU Emissions Trading System. In ceramics, the current framework covers roughly three-quarters of companies’ needs, with the remainder bought on the market. Industry representatives say proposals for 2026-2030 could reduce free allocation to about half of required permits, leaving factories exposed to a cost they cannot yet offset with available technology.

Paulo Almeida of APICER told Jornal Económico that the sector is being pushed towards decarbonisation targets for which there is, in his view, no industrial-scale solution at present. He argued that the result is not simply a transition challenge but an immediate competitive burden, especially for plants that already operate efficiently and cannot quickly replace existing processes.

The association has now taken its case to Portugal’s parliament. APICER was heard by the Assembly of the Republic on 28 April, following a hearing requested by Pedro Coimbra, chair of the economy and territorial cohesion committee. The session gave the association a chance to set out what it sees as a structural crisis in the sector and to brief deputies from PSD, PS and CHEGA on the impact of EU climate policy on ceramics.

Spain and Italy have already raised formal objections to the Commission over the benchmark revision. Italian authorities have called for the current reference levels to be frozen for 2026-2030, arguing that changing them now would create regulatory instability. Spain has asked for greater transparency in the underlying data and for methodological changes that better reflect differences between industrial processes.

Their concerns echo wider warnings from southern European ceramic producers about carbon leakage, the risk that production shifts to countries with weaker environmental rules, undermining both European industry and global emissions goals. The issue has also surfaced in the European Parliament. In January, MEPs Leire Pajín and Sandra Gómez López asked the Commission how it intended to protect sectors exposed to carbon leakage, with ceramics singled out as vulnerable to the gradual reduction of free allowances. In April, MEP Jorge Buxadé Villalba said Spain’s ceramic industry could face more than €180m in extra costs because of a 34% reduction in free allocations for 2026-2030.

APICER argues that Portugal should join the Spanish and Italian position and send a comparable letter to Brussels. Almeida said the association has urged the ministries responsible for industry, finance and the environment to restate their concerns about the benchmark methodology and to make use of the letters already submitted by Madrid and Rome.

Beyond emissions trading, the association is also asking for cheaper energy, support for decarbonising the gas network, easier access to European financing and stronger trade-defence tools to counter competitors operating under looser environmental, social and labour standards. It is also calling for policies that give more value to European-made products and for aid schemes comparable to Portugal’s “Apoiar Gás” programme.

For ceramics, the debate is increasingly less about whether to cut emissions than how quickly the sector can do so without losing production to other regions. As Almeida put it in parliament, Europe should not end up exporting industry and importing emissions.