A UK company closes two blast furnaces.
Jamshedpur: Citing the industry’s movement towards greener metal production, Tata Steel has announced plans to eliminate up to 2,800 jobs in the UK. This is a huge move. The Port Talbot steelworks in Wales have confirmed the closure of two blast furnaces. The company has prioritised a gradual shutdown of the high-emission facilities over the course of the year.
According to a company statement, the reorganisation may have an impact on as many as 2,800 workers, with 2,500 positions scheduled for removal over the course of the following 18 months. The majority of job losses, according to a spokeswoman, will be centred in Port Talbot, where Tata Steel presently employs about 8,000 people.
Although 3,000 jobs were still in jeopardy, the UK government acknowledged last year and committed £500 million ($634 million) to encourage the production of ecologically friendly steel at the nation’s largest steelworks. The CEO of Tata Steel, T V Narendran, said in the company’s announcement on Friday that “we believe it is the right course, even though it is difficult.” A major capital investment in UK steel production is part of the company’s ambitious plan, which aims to guarantee long-term, high-quality steel production and turn the Port Talbot site into a leading hub for green steelmaking in Europe.
The biggest carbon emitter in the UK, Port Talbot Steelworks, has come under investigation, and the government is looking for ways to replace the damaging blast furnaces. The group, located in Mumbai, had already threatened to shut down the facility unless it got government support to help with production decarbonisation and emission reduction.
The UK’s carbon emissions would drop by 1.5%, according to the government, if the coal-powered blast furnaces at the Port Talbot plant were replaced. Green hydrogen has the potential to help the steel industry become more environmentally friendly, but its large-scale manufacturing will cost a lot of money.
Concerns about the environment aside, the steel industry is struggling with skyrocketing costs as a result of the spike in energy prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.