At the Tata Steel Festival, employees and climate activists discuss: ‘I see no future for the factory’

After fifteen minutes, Jelle Zijlstra still wants to ‘throw the bat into the fowl’. The Greenpeace activist has been talking to two young employees of the steel factory at Tata Steel for fifteen minutes. It has already been discussed whether everyone is awake about climate change, about how the two young employees of the company are working on sustainability.

“I assume that we have all seen the conclusions of the RIVM yesterday,” says Zijlstra (35). “There is a battle to be fought in the field of climate, but local residents are also enormously affected by the factory.” How does Jamilla den Haan (26), trainee at Tata Steel, see this, the moderator asks. “This also affects me enormously,” she says. “And I think I’m going to give a dangerous answer: it takes time.”

A remarkable meeting took place in a room in the Tata Steel office in IJmuiden on Saturday afternoon. A day after the RIVM for the first time explicitly established a link between health damage and a greater risk of cancer on the one hand, and emissions from the steel factory on the other, Tata trainees Jamilla den Haan and Laurence Griffioen (27) entered into a conversation with activist Zijlstra and Extinction Rebellion member Niels Moek (30).

The initiative for the unique panel discussion, including an external moderator, came from Tata Steel (approx. 9,000 employees). Greenpeace broke into the steel factory grounds in August to take action against the company responsible for 7 percent of the total national CO₂emissions. Extinction Rebellion (XR) blocked the gates of the site that same month. The factory asked whether the action groups would also like to have a discussion.

That’s what they want, and so this Saturday afternoon two representatives traveled to the “lion’s den”, as Zijlstra jokingly called it on Instagram beforehand. The conversation is part of the Tata Steel Festival: the factory’s annual open day, with carousels, food trucks, bus tours and a walking mascot in the shape of a roll of steel. But also with a lot of security that checks bags, and serious program components. In which the two extremes of the climate debate come together – and it also becomes clear how far apart they are.

Griffioen and Den Haan from Tata Steel start by explaining why they work at the steel factory. Actually precisely because it emits so much, says Den Haan. “If you make a difference here, you really make a difference.” She has already worked on various ‘process optimizations’, in which the CO₂emissions have been reduced, according to her.

The two people in their twenties both say they explicitly want to work on sustainability because they are also concerned about the climate. During the traineeship they also contribute to the plans to renovate the factory and achieve 40 percent less CO by 2030.₂ by making steel based on hydrogen. And they are involved in several green initiatives, for example in the field of electric leasing and the use of plastic. “We have the same goal, we just do it in a different way,” says Griffioen, referring to the two activists.

This ultimately becomes one of the main themes of the conversation: is it better to work for a major emitter, or to increase the pressure from outside? Both sides emphasize their understanding of each other’s experience, but the differences are crystal clear. Zijlstra and Moek believe that the factory is moving far too slowly. “There is no profit in electric lease cars,” says Zijlstra. XR is in favor of closing down all of Tata Steel and Greenpeace is in favor of closing down the polluting coke factories.

And yes, they believe that they can exert the most influence on this from the outside. Zijlstra: “The media is full of Tata Steel, everyone knows that this is the largest emitter in the Netherlands. This would never have been achieved without activism.”

Moek from XR points out that within a company the question will never be raised whether closure might be the best plan. “The company’s interests then continue to play a role.” A lower CO₂emissions in 2030, he believestoo little, too late”. “We are in a state of emergency. The killer is on the loose. And we actually say: we’re going to wait a little longer.”

When Zijlstra from Greenpeace talks about a tactic of stalling for time, Griffioen says: “It hurts that you say this.” She emphasizes that the sustainability department is working very hard, and that converting a factory takes time and that steel will continue to be needed. Griffioen gives the example of the water purification of a future green steel installation that she has worked on. You have to figure this all out very carefully in order to be able to comply with the permit, she says.

Skeptical looks

There are several dozen spectators in the hall, including many Tata employees – the most important group of visitors to the festival with their families. At the edge, three men wearing FNV vests lean on a table with skeptical looks. If there is an opportunity to ask questions, they will be asked: isn’t the region facing a scenario similar to the Limburg mines in the event of a closure? And what employment will be left if Schiphol also closes and “the farmers have to leave”?

Zijlstra says that in theory there are enough jobs available in the region, and “would like to ask you to imagine a world in which people do not fly abroad 14 times a year and our meat does not come from mega stables.” But he also acknowledges: “Yes, it would be an emotional loss.” Moek: “There are so many interests here and so much has been built up.”

Towards the end, Den Haan of Tata Steel says that she thinks it is good that action groups remind a factory that something needs to change, even though Tata Steel itself knows that. The moderator wants to know from Greenpeace and XR whether they see room for cooperation. Only with “serious commitment”, says Zijlstra of Greenpeace, which he does not see yet.

Also read: How they at Tata Steel are tinkering with the mega operation that can only go well once

Moek from XR thinks for a moment and then says: “No. We are in a state of emergency. I see no future for the factory.”