From BBC News:
Tata Group wants to reach a deal for the UK government to provide £1.5bn towards this, the Financial Times says. [...]
Speaking to the FT, Tata Group chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said: "A transition to a greener steel plant is the intention that we have . . . But this is only possible with financial help from the government.
"We have been in discussions over the last two years and we should come to an agreement within 12 months. Without this, we will have to look at closures of sites."
The report says Tata wants to close two blast furnaces at Port Talbot and build two electric arc furnaces, that will be less carbon intensive. However, the FT adds this process will cost about £3bn, with Tata seeking £1.5bn from the UK government.
In addition, Tata has pledged to produce steel using hydrogen within a generation at its Dutch plant. Surely this is an aspiration which the UK government should be matching? The world is always going to need steel. The UK, and Wales in particular, should be in the vanguard of producing it in the most sustainable way, just as we were in the vanguard of the Industrial Revolution.
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