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On 22 October 2025, Fiera Milano unveiled the second edition of NetZero Milan, a three-day conference focused on the electrification of the economy. Scheduled for 20–22 October 2026 at Allianz MiCo, the event will gather more than 140 speakers and 15 themed sessions, with the core themes being energy costs, industrial competitiveness and the green transition.
The forum is aimed primarily at industries, entrepreneurs and energy managers—groups that need to make capital decisions against a backdrop of volatile prices and tightening climate regulation. Sara Quotti Tubi, Head of Energy and Transportation Exhibitions at Fiera Milano, said the event is designed to provide practical tools. In comments at the launch, she stressed that participants have asked to keep the analytical structure of the first edition: assess economic conditions, discuss new technologies from an engineering perspective, and compare upfront investments against final outcomes.
The geopolitical context remains difficult. ISPI researcher Matteo Villa pointed out that the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz affects all countries because oil prices are set globally. He noted that the initial impact was softened by coordinated releases from strategic reserves in the United States, China and, to a lesser extent, Europe. But those reserves are no longer an unlimited cushion. With spare capacity thin, any future disruption could produce a faster pass-through into electricity bills.
The degree to which gas prices drive power prices is at the heart of the debate. Virginia Canazza, partner at consultancy Key to Energy, said electricity and gas price trends show an almost perfect correlation—a pattern that has persisted despite the growth of renewables. She attributes this to gas-fired plants often setting the wholesale marginal price. In her view, decoupling is possible only if solar and wind deployment is matched by stronger grids and flexibility assets, especially batteries. This combination would allow low-cost renewables to displace gas more often and make consumer prices less sensitive to LNG cargoes and pipeline disruptions.
Key to Energy’s scenario work underlines the urgency. The consultancy forecasts that Italian electricity consumption will rise around 7% by 2030 and more than 14% in the following decade. A major part of that growth is expected to come from data centers, which require reliable 24/7 power. The scale of this new demand will test market design and grid planning, making the conference’s focus on technology costs particularly relevant.
Italy is a useful test bed for these issues because its industrial electricity prices tend to sit above the EU average. Eurostat data for non-household electricity prices have repeatedly shown Italy near the higher end of the EU range. That makes energy efficiency and demand-side flexibility more attractive in Milan or Rome than in markets with cheap hydro or nuclear power. For a trade event, this creates a receptive audience: few chief financial officers will argue abstractly about climate when the topic can be translated into euros per megawatt-hour.
The technology agenda is deliberately grounded in sectors where emissions are hardest to reduce. Steel, cement and aviation—often classified as “hard-to-abate”—will be discussed through the lens of specific investments rather than generic targets. Decarbonised hydrogen and biomethane are on the programme, but their adoption is not assumed. Organizers say the aim is to examine the financial case so companies can judge whether it is worth proceeding, delaying or skipping.
The opening session on 20 October will focus on European competitiveness in a global energy market. On 21 October, the audience will hear from Jan Rosenow, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy at the University of Oxford; Francesco Starace, a partner at Eqt Group; and Paola Bresesti, a consultant at the European Investment Bank. On the final day, Nobel laureate Philippe Aghion will deliver a keynote on “creative destruction,” linking innovation, industrial policy and climate targets. His participation is a signal that the organisers want economic theory to be translated into strategic advice.
Alongside the conference programme, the exhibition area will host business matchmaking sessions. Companies, suppliers and investors will meet in both open and invitation-only formats. According to Quotti Tubi, the idea is to understand how the electrification of the economy will evolve in practice. Conversations between potential partners at the event, she added, will be a major opportunity for participants.
The originality of NetZero lies in its emphasis on the finance of decarbonisation. While many climate conferences are built around policy announcements, this one is closer to a capital-markets event. Sessions are designed to answer specific questions: What will a battery investment return in a given price environment? How should power purchase agreements account for grid bottlenecks? When does the operating cost of a hydrogen facility exceed its carbon benefit? That practical orientation, reinforced by the speaker list, helps distinguish NetZero from the wider trade-fair calendar.
Recent European Union changes to electricity market design add another layer. Buyers are being pushed into longer-term contracting and are paying more attention to flexibility, storage and demand response. NetZero’s combination of policy analysis and project-level finance is timely: the companies attending will soon be making procurement decisions under the new rules, and their ability to navigate those rules could determine whether Europe’s industrial base shrinks or adapts.
The second edition of NetZero Milan will therefore be both a business event and a stress test for the European narrative of “transition without deindustrialisation.” With energy markets still distorted by geopolitics, the discussions in Milan will show whether electrification can deliver benefits that are measurable—not only in emissions, but in balance sheets.
