LACK OF LEADERSHIP AND LACK OF FORESIGHT COSTS 3000 JOBS IN PORT TALBOT

Britain Should Have Copied Sweden!

I have just finished a debate on GBNews with Ross Clarke from the Telegraph under the watchful eye of Mark Dolan. Of course the line being taken by Ross and Mark was that implementation of Net Zero policies is to be blamed for the job losses.

For once I agree with them!

Yes, the reason so many jobs have been lost in Port Talbot is because Net Zero has not been implemented fast enough!

Net Zero is an industrial mission that will reinvigorate British industry and create prosperity in UK in the 2030s and 2040s but only if we do what the Climate Party is advocating and grip it by the proverbial and instigate a World beating target to decarbonise by 2030

The British Government (and the owners of Port Talbot, Tata Steel) has again missed the boat again (and again and again) and cost 3000 people their jobs at the steel works as they decommission the current polluting blast furnaces and introduce an electric arc furnace which will recycle used steel.

Let’s look at what they would have done if they had moved faster on Net Zero.

They could have copied the H2 Green Steel project in Boden in northern Sweden. There are many similarities although the potential result looks very different:

Money

New Port Talbot electric arc furnace ￡1.2 billion investment (500 million UK government, 700 million Tata Steel)

Boden Green Steel production Euro 1.8 billion equity investment (plus double that in loans but don’t tell me Tata Stell has no borrowing)

Jobs

Port Talbot - around 9000 jobs saved (direct and indirect) although 3000 lost!

Boden – around 10,000 jobs created (direct and indirect)

Production Volumes

Port Talbot current production 3 million tons of steel (at carbon emissions of 2 tons of CO2 for each ton produced)

Boden production in 2025 will be 2.5 million tons and in 2030 5 million tons (at 100Kg of CO2 for each ton of steel produced – and a commitment to halve that by 2035!)

So in broad terms for the same amount of money invested, the same number of jobs would be preserved or created and production amounts are somewhat similar.

That’s where the comparison ends with Boden being 95% less CO2 emissions and being at the cutting edge of the new clean industry with major brands lining up to make orders for up to 7 years. They have taken first mover advantage and will be on the top of the pile as the industry grows exponentially in the next two decades. Whereas the Port Talbot ‘recycling facility’ is a rather pathetic looking sticking plaster.

The Swedish clean steel will initially be 20-30% more expensive but that is not putting off customers. No doubt this comparative cost will come down rapidly in the same way renewables have become cheaper as they reached scale and innovation kicked in.

Britain should be racing to beat H2 Green Steel to its goals at same time as introducing new electric arc furnaces. We should be creating the new 10,000 jobs to replace the 3000 loses – net gain 7000! Everyone wins.

But to win we need to be brave and clever. We need to follow the leadership of Climate Party and take hold of Net Zero as our overriding industrial strategy.

Decarbonisation by 2030 will see Britain lead the world again!

The Climate Party Deborah Meaden Dale Vince Toddington Harper Greg Skinner Hugh M. Ben Goldsmith Steff Wright ?? Stegra Amedeo Clavarino #steel #porttalbot #climate #2030 #wycombe #highwycombe #hazlemere