'Net zero needs to mean more than broken promises and betrayed communities'

One year on, the closure of the last blast furnace at Tata's huge Port Talbot steelworks suggests why the public is losing faith in the race to net zero

- argues Nicholas Beuret

Tata Steel In Port Talbot. One year ago around one in 10 jobs in the town of 35,000 were lost as a century of steel-making ended

THE rolling mills are still working, but the furnaces are long cold.

Of the 4,000 people previously employed at the steel mill in Port Talbot, only half still work there.

Despite union protests and local rallies, one year ago this week, the plant's last coal-burning blast furnace was shut down.

This ended more than a century of steelmaking in the UK’s biggest plant - one of the largest in Europe.

The owner, Tata Steel, blamed high energy prices and competition from cheaper Chinese steel, claiming ongoing losses of around £1m a day.

It warned the plant would close entirely unless the UK government stepped in to help replace its ageing furnaces with lower-emissions electric arc furnaces.

Steel manufacture contributes around 7% of global climate emissions, and Port Talbot alone accounted for 1.5% of the UK total.

Faced with the choice between the closure of the mill and supporting its transition to greener production, the government committed £500m to this transition.

Tata Steel then announced 2,800 job losses - around one in 10 jobs in the town of 35,000.

Up to 9,500 more could be lost in the supply chain and broader sector.

This is not how successive governments have sold the transition to a net zero economy.

Both Labour and the Conservatives promised net zero would create skilled, well-paid work which would not only make up for losses elsewhere, but generate economic growth and lower bills.

Some data suggests they were right: the UK’s net zero sector is growing far faster than the rest of the economy at 10% per year, and already supports close to 700,000 jobs.