Steelworker of 40 years demands green plans from Boris Johnson at COP26 summit
| Published date | 22 October 2021 |
Mr Johnson will welcome world leaders to Glasgow for the COP6 negotiations in less than two weeks.
But big questions loom over how the PM wants the UK’s steel industry -and other energy-hungry sectors -to survive and thrive amid the global push to tackle climate change.
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“At the moment I don’t see a lot of action,” Alan told the Mirror, which has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015.
“There’s no doubt whatsoever that if there isn’t help going forward there would be thousands of job cuts.
“It would be a travesty because we would end up importing steel from all around the world to the UK.
“That would be an absolute disaster and a false economy.”
The Trades Union Congress has warned that up to 660,000 jobs in manufacturing and supply chains could be at risk if the UK fails to transition to net-zero as fast as other nations.
Posts under threat include 27,000 in steel, which is Britain’s biggest industrial emitter of CO2 but which employs 33,700 workers directly and supports another 42,000 supply chain jobs.
Community steelworkers’ union official Alan, who can see Port Talbot’s blast furnaces from his home in the South Wales town, said: “Everybody in the industry knows we’ve got to change how we operate.
“But what are we going to adopt instead and when are we going to start investing in the plants so we can drive net-zero”
Some UK steel production is already fully electrified, using electric arc furnaces -but they can only make limited types of steel.
High-grade products for cars or wind turbines cannot currently be manufactured using electric arc furnaces.
Meanwhile, foreign rivals are forging ahead.
In August, Swedish firm Hybrit made its first delivery of “green steel” produced with hydrogen from electrolysis of water with renewable electricity.
Another Swedish firm, H2 Green Steel, is planning a hydrogen plant that will begin production in 2024.
Four months ago, Three Consulting announced a green steel project in Missouri.
ArcelorMittal is planning trials in Germany and France.
“Firms in Europe have already started the process and we have barely scratched the surface,” said Alan.
“People are already moving in that...
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