The question remains whether and how many billions in subsidy Tata Steel will receive to go green. But the government wants to go far to keep the steel producer for the Netherlands, Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs) made clear on Thursday. The decisions should be made in a few weeks.
The key question for a long time was whether Tata Steel still has a future in the Netherlands. The government is heading towards this and emphasizes the importance of steel for the Netherlands. It became clear on Thursday that Tata Steel needs 500 million to 2 billion euros in subsidy for its greening plans up to 2030. If sustainability has to go faster, a maximum of half of that subsidy will be added. But whether and what the government is willing to pay has not yet been decided. Minister Adriaansens: “We as a cabinet are now going to consider this.”
Minister Adriaansens has asked former minister Hans Wijers to map out a path. His report suggests five ‘routes’ to make the steel factory more sustainable. These routes range from doing nothing at all to the complete closure of Tata Steel. But according to the Hague recipe, an intermediate variant is chosen.
Tata Steel has already made a proposal to the cabinet to make it more sustainable by replacing a special oven. The minister announced on Thursday that, as far as she is concerned, this plan should serve as a basis, with any additional measures to implement some of the plans more quickly. In this way, health risks should be reduced in the short term and – if all goes well – employment will remain intact. The committee concludes that none of these routes ‘can be clearly identified as an optimal solution for all stakeholders’. Nor is it the minister’s preferred route. Another report previously made it clear that it is still unclear how much Tata emits and what effect this exactly has on local residents.
Economy and health are therefore diametrically opposed to each other in this dossier. Tata Steel’s economic importance is great, especially in the region. Tata Steel Netherlands has 11,000 employees, of which 9,000 work in IJmuiden. The government now wants to save those jobs. And at the same time accommodate the environment and local residents through accelerated greening.
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Health risks
But the company also causes many health risks in the environment. A month ago, an advisory group led by former hospital boss Marcel Levi concluded that the Dutch government should not give Tata Steel billions in subsidies for greening as long as the company no longer takes the health of local residents into account. And then Tata Steel, with emissions of 12.5 million tons – which is no less than 7 percent of the total Dutch emissions – is also the largest CO2emitter of the Netherlands. In any case, this should be significantly less, the cabinet believes.
Closing Tata Steel completely makes no sense, according to Hans Wijers’ report. It will of course provide the greatest reduction in nuisance for local residents – provided it can be legally achieved in the short term – but at the same time it will lead to a significant loss of ‘high-quality employment’, global CO2 emissions will not necessarily be reduced, because steel must still be produced. And it entails higher public expenditure due to compensation for expropriation, costs for cleaning the contaminated land and the social plan for employees who lose their jobs. So much more than those two billion euros. Minister Adriaansens also indicates that she does not prefer that.
The report is very clear about one thing: sustainable steel production in the Netherlands can only be achieved with the help of state support, just like in other EU countries. So the state has to pick up the purse strings anyway. But how much money should be extracted depends on how much money the cabinet and the House of Representatives make available for this. And of course how the negotiations are going with the steel manufacturer.
Minister Adriaansens has announced that she is committed to making a final decision by the beginning of May. “This is a very urgent problem, we have to get to work quickly.” Now she just has to take her plans to the cabinet and to the House of Representatives. Both have yet to give their consent. So she is not sure yet. The agreements with Tata Steel should be completed in the autumn. “But,” the minister emphasizes, “not at any price.”
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