Both Sides of the Coin
In last Saturday’s Daily Mail there appeared two very interesting articles. Putting aside the political bias of this paper and concentrating purely on the facts we are faced with a very interesting choice as follows:-
HEADS
1) The government has agree to grant India owned Tata Steel £500million of taxpayers money to convert their Port Talbot coal furnaces from coal to green arc furnaces, thus preventing the closure of the plant. Tata will add £750million bringing the total to £1.25billion.
2) Tata Steel employs 8,000 workers and supports a supply chain of 12,500 jobs but the conversion will create 3000 redundancies but will save the remaining 5,000, together with those in the supply chain.
3) It is estimated that the conversion will reduce the UK’s CO2 emissions by1.5% i.e. 4.71Mt which equates to 0.013% (my calculation) of Global Emissions.
TAILS.
1) The steel industry is vital to the UK’s defence industry, also the car industry, and with war in Europe even more so.
2) The UK steel industry has already declined from 300,000 jobs in 1970 to 39,800 jobs at present.
3) Tata is a major investor, Jaguar/Rover, in the UK and will invest £15billion, over 5 years, in the conversion of the car industry to green production, including £4billion for a new car battery plant. Further it is one of the few inward investors that are strongly backing the UK.
4) Tata’s primary investments in the UK are a main contributor to the UK’s growth that has seen us become the world’s 8th largest manufacturing hub overtaking France.
5) A further benefit could be that by supporting Tata, the Government will be improving relation with India while we are negotiating a tariff breaking new trade deal.
MY COMMENT.
The anti-green lobby will say that this is not a cost effective way, in times of economic stress, of reducing CO2 emissions which is clearly true.
The Trade Unions in their usual dog in the manger approach say it is a shift to green at the expense of the workers while ignoring the saving of some 17,500 jobs that will otherwise be lost. Progress is usually less labour intensive.
In this group there are those who, while never having had to make a significant decision in their lives, and who, with the clarity of hindsight, always know what is the right action. For them here is an opportunity to come out of their foxholes and express an opinion BEFORE the outcome is known.
MY OPINION.
To spend £500million to achieve a 0.013% reduction in Global CO2 emissions while losing 3,000 jobs would be stupidity of the highest order, however, taking into account all the other considerations then it is surely right to make this investment and regard the CO2 gain as a fortunate spin off, not a reason.
I will await comment with interest,
NB. The figure for CO2 emissions vary depending on the source but the ones that I used are of the right order, and I hope I got 0’s right.
HEADS
1) The government has agree to grant India owned Tata Steel £500million of taxpayers money to convert their Port Talbot coal furnaces from coal to green arc furnaces, thus preventing the closure of the plant. Tata will add £750million bringing the total to £1.25billion.
2) Tata Steel employs 8,000 workers and supports a supply chain of 12,500 jobs but the conversion will create 3000 redundancies but will save the remaining 5,000, together with those in the supply chain.
3) It is estimated that the conversion will reduce the UK’s CO2 emissions by1.5% i.e. 4.71Mt which equates to 0.013% (my calculation) of Global Emissions.
TAILS.
1) The steel industry is vital to the UK’s defence industry, also the car industry, and with war in Europe even more so.
2) The UK steel industry has already declined from 300,000 jobs in 1970 to 39,800 jobs at present.
3) Tata is a major investor, Jaguar/Rover, in the UK and will invest £15billion, over 5 years, in the conversion of the car industry to green production, including £4billion for a new car battery plant. Further it is one of the few inward investors that are strongly backing the UK.
4) Tata’s primary investments in the UK are a main contributor to the UK’s growth that has seen us become the world’s 8th largest manufacturing hub overtaking France.
5) A further benefit could be that by supporting Tata, the Government will be improving relation with India while we are negotiating a tariff breaking new trade deal.
MY COMMENT.
The anti-green lobby will say that this is not a cost effective way, in times of economic stress, of reducing CO2 emissions which is clearly true.
The Trade Unions in their usual dog in the manger approach say it is a shift to green at the expense of the workers while ignoring the saving of some 17,500 jobs that will otherwise be lost. Progress is usually less labour intensive.
In this group there are those who, while never having had to make a significant decision in their lives, and who, with the clarity of hindsight, always know what is the right action. For them here is an opportunity to come out of their foxholes and express an opinion BEFORE the outcome is known.
MY OPINION.
To spend £500million to achieve a 0.013% reduction in Global CO2 emissions while losing 3,000 jobs would be stupidity of the highest order, however, taking into account all the other considerations then it is surely right to make this investment and regard the CO2 gain as a fortunate spin off, not a reason.
I will await comment with interest,
NB. The figure for CO2 emissions vary depending on the source but the ones that I used are of the right order, and I hope I got 0’s right.
