Tata For Now!

Part of what was British Steel (Corus), became Tata Steel in Europe in 2007. It's owned by the ubiquitous Indian billionaire. Other parts of this former state-owned company, have recently been taken over by China's Jingye Group. One part of Tata's UK empire is the two enormous blast furnaces in Port Talbot (Wales). Tata has now announced it's replacing these, by an electric arc furnace. This will reduce its Port Talbot work force by more than 2500. Tata claims it's doing this to go 'greener' (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/24/unions-accuse-tata-of-hypocrisy-over-port-talbot-closure-green-claims). Blast furnaces produce 'virgin' steel from iron ore and coal. They also emit massive quantities of climate-altering 'greenhouse gases'. Electric arc furnaces conversely recycle 'scrap' steel. They generate, however, markedly fewer emissions. Seems greenish? Tata is, however, simultaneously building a massive new blast furnance in its Kalinganagar industrial complex in Eastern India. Workers there are paid much less and the Indian authorities are very relaxed about carbon dioxide emissions. Tata can then sell its Indian-produced 'virgin' steel to UK companies. The UK will consequently be the only major economytotally relying on imports of this material. Claiming this is a 'green' move seems a tad hypocritical. The Jingye group might well follow suit. Emissions from steel production are a serious problem. They have, however, the same global impact no matter where they are produced. Pumping out the 'greenhouse gases' in India and China, is still going to accelerate planetary heating.