If Tata Steel is to become more sustainable in the coming years, the consequences on the health of local residents must be better studied. In addition to the environmental investigation, a large-scale health investigation should also be carried out, experts say in advice to the outgoing government.
While providing support for the greening of Tata Steel, the Cabinet should also stipulate the need to improve the health of local people, says IJmond Health Expert Group.
“The government is considering investing billions in a more sustainable factory,” says Marcel Levy, professor of medicine and head of the expert group. “If they do, they can set conditions. The factors that contribute to health harms must be significantly reduced.”
Outgoing Minister of State Vivienne Heijnen (Infrastructure and Water Management) asked the expert group to advise on the health situation around the steel plant. It did so after the RIVM concluded that Wijk aan Zee residents live on average 2.5 months shorter due to Tata Steel’s emissions.
The RIVM study could be expanded in the future to evaluate further health impacts, such as cardiovascular disease risk and mental complaints in the local population. “You could treat them all in exactly the same way and include them in the improvement plans that are being proposed now.”
‘Tata is cautious about data’
According to Tata Steel, greening the steel plant will bring several health benefits to the environment. If the company partially switches from coal to natural gas or hydrogen, fewer harmful substances will be released into the air.
But according to the expert team, it is still unclear what emissions Tata Steel actually emits, and to what extent the emissions figures are based on measurements or estimates. The company “so far appears reluctant to provide this data, including to the expert group,” the report says.
In its greening plans, Tata primarily communicates expected emissions reductions in percentages, without clarifying the absolute magnitude of emissions. “More transparency is necessary here,” the expert group says.
Tata’s ijzeren greep
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The coke gas plant was closed earlier
Professors also believe that greening Tata Steel will take a long time. It will take six years to build the new factories, while the old factories are still smoking. Experts fear that during that period, health damage to the region will actually increase.
Tata Steel wants to close its most famous plant, coke gas plant 2, in 2029. The expert team believes this should happen sooner. But Levy maintains that as far as the group of experts is concerned, the steel plant can continue to exist. “It’s very important for the region, and maybe even for the country. But it needs to be greener and have less impact on the health of local people.”
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Tighter air quality standards are far and away
According to experts, not only Tata, but the government too should increase its ambitions. Tata wants Egmond’s air quality to meet standards set by the World Health Organization in 2005 by 2030. But these have now been replaced by stricter WHO guidelines from 2021.
The expert team believes the Netherlands must ensure that air quality across the country meets these more stringent standards from 2035. WHO guidelines must also be used in preparing permits for Tata Steel. The province of North Holland, responsible for permits, Complain She is concerned about the difficulty of taking into account health impacts when granting permits.
Following stricter WHO standards is also a bridge too far for The Hague and Brussels at the moment. It’s crazy books In 2022 for the House of Representatives it is currently impossible to improve air quality much. Member states of the European Union He agreed last week About new air quality standards that allow concentrations of ultrafine particles and nitrogen dioxide to be twice what the World Health Organization recommends.
Heijnen says on Wednesday that she will study the recommendations of the expert group. The minister had earlier said that climate agreements with Tata must take into account health harms. It should become clear within the year exactly how this will happen.
Tata Steel calls the expert panel’s report “valuable” and says it also wants to make steel production cleaner. “We feel this urgency and see this as an important signal for our conversations in the custom process,” says a company spokesperson.
Kan Tata Steel verduurzamen?
- Tata Steel produceert al 100 jaar staal, maar mede door de gezondheidsproblematiek en klimaatplannen is het crisis bij het bedrijf.
- Een van de architecten van het plan om Tata Steel te vergroenen is “steeds pessimistischer” over de toekomst van het bedrijf.
- Tata-directeur Hans van den Berg ziet de toekomst juist optimistisch tegemoet, zei hij tegen NU.nl. “We hebben hier in de IJmond een unieke kans.”
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