Greenpeace wants the government to take tougher action against Tata Steel

Greenpeace is disappointed that Tata Steel "wants to continue using the disease-causing components for years to come. This is hugely damaging to the climate, nature, and local residents," said Director Andy Palmen in response to the steelworks' announced greening plans. He believes that the plans fall short "on many levels".

Tata Steel presenteerde vandaag de aangepaste toekomstvisie. We zijn teleurgesteld dat #tatasteel de ziekmakende onderdelen nog jaren wil laten vervuilen. Dat is enorm schadelijk voor het klimaat, de natuur en omwonenden. 🧵1/4 © Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace pic.twitter.com/wWJncaoitZ

— Greenpeace Nederland (@GreenpeaceNL) November 3, 2023

"We think the commitment to recycled steel is a good start, but not at the pace proposed by Tata itself. If the Dutch government is to pay for the overdue maintenance of this major polluter, you can't continue to make local residents ill for years in the meantime," said Palmen.

The Greenpeace director is calling on the government to take tougher action against the steelworks. "As far as we are concerned, the most pathogenic parts, the coking plants, should be closed as soon as possible," he said.

Milieudefensie wants to examine Tata Steel's plans thoroughly before the environmental association makes a statement. "It goes without saying that we will take a critical look at Tata's new plans."

On Friday, the steel company published updated plans to make its plant in IJmuiden more sustainable. This includes replacing one blast furnace and one coking plant with more sustainable equipment by 2029 at the latest. By 2035, Tata Steel also wants to replace the two plants that will continue to run on polluting coal until 2030, CEO Hans van den Berg and Jeroen Klumper, Director of Sustainable Change at Tata Steel's Dutch subsidiary, said in an interview.

The other blast furnace and the coking plant will be tackled at a later date, according to Van den Berg and Klumper, as these are "huge projects". "We can't do so many big projects in a few years. It's a big challenge, but we will get there," said Van den Berg. According to Tata, the plans presented on Friday will cost several billion euros and the company is also asking the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Change for funding. Van den Berg and Klumper won't say how much money the steel company wants from the government but reveal that they are in talks with the ministry about it.

The company wants to replace both blast furnaces with a so-called Direct Reduced Iron Plant (DRP). The first of these will be built on the Tata Steel site before 2030 and will initially run on natural gas. The plant will later be operated with green hydrogen. It is not clear exactly when, but the company says this will happen "as soon as hydrogen is available in sufficient quantities and at the right price". Green hydrogen reduces CO2 and particulate emissions, and Tata wants to emit 5 million tons less CO2 every year from 2030.

The DRP will be combined with a facility that will enable Tata Steel to melt down the scrap from the DRP. This facility is called an electric arc furnace (EAF), which the company says will significantly improve the circular economy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

With the replacement of a blast furnace, the steel company no longer needs a coking plant. Therefore, by replacing a blast furnace, Tata Steel is closing a coking plant.

In a few years, the steel company will build a new type of furnace that will produce more high-quality steel than the EAF. "We decided to go down this route because the other plant of this size is not yet available," said Van den Berg. He and Klumper assume that this plant will be further developed in the coming years so that it is suitable for Tata Steel's production scale.