Ir. Hans van den Berg (19980702), CEO Tata Steel Netherlands

CEO TATA STEEL NETHERLANDS IR. HANS VAN DEN BERG MBA:

GREEN HYDROGEN IN IJMUIDEN

BY JAN VINCENT MEERTENS - PHOTOGRAPHY TATA STEEL

There are few companies in the Netherlands that have made the front pages as often as Tata Steel in recent months. The sale of the company to the Swedish SSAB came to nothing. Neighbors of the company began to stir and the black snow of early 2021 seemed the straw that broke the camel's back. 1100 neighbors filed charges against "the indomitable monster" for "deliberately causing harm to human and animal health.” Last month the Public Prosecutor decided to start a criminal investigation into the role of the managers. In September 2021, the RIVM published a study that found that in Wijk aan Zee, Beverwijk, Velsen and IJmuiden more metals and other substances were found in the dust that pose risks to public health than outside the IJmond region. A second report early this year indicated that higher concentrations were being measured than would be expected on the basis of environmental annual reports and emission records. The papers point to Tata Steel.

Hans van den Berg (19980702) is CEO of Tata Steel Netherlands. Van Verre visits him to hear more about his plans and approach. Hans van den Berg receives me in his office. Informally dressed, friendly box, broad smile. In nothing a man to lead his company through the perfect storm. He became chairman of the Tata Steel Netherlands board on June 1, 2020, in which he was already sitting as operations director. He has been with the company since 1990, but 2021 will not be easy for him to forget. Hans van den Berg stands firm for his company and does not want to run away from all the problems: "we want to be a good neighbor. We are not now." In any future scenario of Tata Steel, it is not only about the 9,000 jobs, not only about CO2, but also about reducing emissions and improving people's living environment. It just has to be clean.

State Secretary Heijnen of Infrastructure and Water Management (I&W) is currently answering questions in the House of Representatives. What is your expectation?

HvdB: "It is about the RIVM report of late January, part of which we do not understand. We would very much like to talk to the RIVM to find out what the difference is between what we report in terms of emissions and what the RIVM indicates. The discrepancies are so big, that's not possible at all. Something is going on there, but of course the press has already picked up on that. We are completely left out of the commissioning and creation of the RIVM reports. We get the report when it is published and the media gets it 48 hours earlier. I then get a journalist on the phone asking what is going on with the measurements. Of course I didn't know what was in the report so that's a very strange situation. The government and the RIVM want to avoid influence or the appearance of it.

"WE WANT TO BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR. WE'RE NOT NOW."

A legacy from the past, groups shouting that we are in on everything and pulling all the strings. Hence, a few years ago, those connections were cut. It's unfortunate, but understandable."

In September 2021, all kinds of things seemed to come together. You guys turned the switch?

HvdB: "Yes, the technology development, the prospects of the availability of green hydrogen, public opinion, the Green Steel plan of the FNV where there was a lot of emphasis on our environmental performance. We are going to make steel on the basis of green hydrogen and want to do that without an interim phase in which we store CO2. It was a very important moment and also a step that takes courage."

You are already among the 10% cleanest steel producers in the world and a benchmark internationally. But it hasn't proven to be enough. Graphite rain, mercury discharge, black snow. You are now taking measures that could have been taken earlier. Was it your intrinsic motivation, or have politics not been strict enough?

HvdB: "First of all, as a company, we have always focused on what is licensed to us. And, yes, it is one's own responsibility. Before the graphite emissions, about which there was a lot of discussion two years ago, we had a lot of good contact with the village council. We were already getting as many as a thousand complaints a year. The realization should have taken place sooner. The major improvement program of 300 million euros, the Roadmap Plus, which we now have, contains measures above and beyond the statutory requirements, with which we will significantly reduce emissions in the next two years. We are going to see the biggest effects in the short term when we build the filter at the pellet plant where iron ore is preprocessed into pellets."

You allow yourself to be vulnerable in communicating to the outside world.

HvdB: "We have a story to tell. We've been brooding on that for quite a while. With our Roadmap Plus, our now independent business, all the reports that have come out. It's moved into a huge gear. That's why I told Nieuwsuur twice last year. The changes also call for visibility and daring to say you didn't do it right, that you did it too late. That suits me and I certainly don't mind speaking to critical media."

You live in Beverwijk and are also a neighbor of Tata Steel. Do people talk to you a lot about it at the club or on the street?

HvB: "Let me say first of all that I have never experienced anything nasty, although it is going on very fiercely on social media right now. Of course, a lot of employees live in the neighbourhood. They are very happy that we have embarked on this green route and have set a dot on the horizon. That we are fighting for the company and are visible. When I'm in the supermarket I always come across a few colleagues who give me a boost. I experience more positivity than negativity. But there are many concerned residents. Certainly. In 2019 I was in the Moriaan, a large sports hall in Wijk aan Zee, where we had organized a large meeting. At that time, the first RIVM report was also just out that the dust is not healthy for young children. I was approached by many concerned mothers. Can my children play outside here? Do we have to move? What are you doing about it as a company? I also hear: we know people with cancer and it's because of you. It is very complicated to determine exactly what the effects on health are. We also see the GGD and the RIVM struggling with this. Of course, there are a lot of other factors that play a role as well. But we really take the health concerns seriously and act; we spend a lot of money to significantly reduce our company's impact on the environment and I spend a lot of my time working on it."

You are in dire need of politics. What do you expect from the ministers for Climate and Energy and for I&W?

HvB: "There are two paths. One path is what we have in Roadmap Plus. This has to be done as soon as possible. By 2023 it will be largely finished and we should see the effects. We can do much of that ourselves, we are doing it. But permits, with objection procedures and environmental impact reports is in the thread of the implementation. Those procedures, boththeprovincialpermitandthe State coordination arrangements for energy projects with national interest, must be completed much faster. If that works out then our environmental performance can improve. There is also the path of greening. That also needs to happen quickly, but is going to take longer.

We need to have made the big steps in that by 2030. However, we cannot do that alone. The coalition agreement holds out the prospect of customization to companies like ours. We need subsidies, an infrastructure we can rely on and a level playing field. China plays a major role in this, if you look at what has been built there in the last fifteen years! The capacity in the world has more than doubled and that extra capacity of over a billion tons is all in China. And there are no CO2 taxes there. They are fairly modern factories, we should not underestimate that. We need help in particular, because in Europe we want to go green at a very fast pace and build up the hydrogen economy. We also want to lead the way in the Netherlands in this regard, but ultimately we have to be able to recoup the transition through income from the market. And that is only possible in a level playing field."

Everyone is eagerly awaiting the closure of two factories. The Cooking and Gas Plant 2 and a blast furnace.

HvB: "That's in the greening process. We decided in September that we are really moving to a different technology that will use hydrogen through natural gas. We can play a big role in the hydrogen economy because we will be a very big buyer in that."

So that means you can be a big driver of the energy transition.

HvB: "Yes, that's why organizations such as Friends of the Earth and Urgenda are very interested in this, because you need large buyers of green hydrogen and we can be the launching customer, enabling you to connect heating, transport and so on. They know our plans and we are in contact with them. These organizations also know that we need steel. There are no wooden windmills, our entire society is built on steel. Only: it can't go fast enough for them. What are the obstacles, how can it be accelerated, what can we do? One certainly doesn't just stand along the sidelines shouting something."

You've worked on the operations side for almost thirty years. Don't you miss the factory?

HvdB: "I can just get in the car and drive to all the factories. That's what I do. We now also visit our downstream operations a bit more intensively. We have the big hub in IJmuiden, but also the processing companies like the tube factory in Oosterhout where I visited yesterday. And we have profile makers, service centers and electroplating companies in France, Germany, Spain and Turkey, among others."

A lot has changed for you in the past year. Was it your ambition to become executive chairman?

HvB: "I actually kind of grew into it. Responsible for the whole operation, safety, health, environment of the IJmuiden operation. And it was in that role that I came to the management of TSN. Since the demerger of British Steel, we have a real board of directors and our own supervisory board and we are directly accountable to our shareholders in India. A big change, yes. My ambition? I am ambitious, want to do well and don't run away from my responsibilities. But actually I am surprised that I have progressed this far, if I am completely honest. After all, from a physicist, I have become an all-round manager."

You've worked with the British for years. What are the lessons learned, are the British and Dutch not the obvious partners who can easily find each other?

HvdB: "You could write a book about that. If you look back now, all in all it was not a happy marriage. You notice that in all layers of the organization. Of course it was also a special challenge to join forces with a complex company like British Steel, which once employed 250,000 people, and turn it into a single company. But let's not look back too much and focus on the future, now that we are independent as of October 1, 2021. I note that the cooperation is working fine now, we are, after all, still 1 company."

Now you are working directly with the Indians. What are your experiences so far?

HvdB: "In 2007 we were taken over by Tata Steel. We are already used to each other. It is a great advantage that we now have a direct line. The chairman of our SB is the CEO of Tata Steel Ltd, T.V. Narendran. It works decisively. As chairman of the SB you are responsible for the company. Whether the company is for sale you never know, of course, but we are no longer in the shop window. And if you put the top man of the company on the supervisory board of our company here, then they are committed. But of course we are also a serious, profitable piece of Tata Steel. They are very well informed. We're in contact about weekly. That's quite a lot with a shareholder, but there are big changes coming. And the image of Tata is very important. Tata is very well known in India and also has a reputation to uphold in Europe in various sectors. Think of Tata Consultancy

Services, Jaguar Land Rover, Taj Hotels, Zara. A huge, profitable company. It is known as an ethical company that allows profits from the company to flow back into society. The company is there for society. And that's how we feel here. One is following very closely the decarbonization, the big energy transition that we are going through here but also in India. I have every confidence in the company's backing for TSN. The image of Tata Steel has been written down quite negatively, but I don't see it that way. People are in it for the long haul. A lot of money has gone to Europe, to the UK of course, but never the other way around."

In the press, it is suggested that there is skimming and that you do not pay corporate taxes.

HvdB: "Of course, that is not true at all. The suggestion was that 20 billion would have been siphoned off. If that much money had been made...nonsense! We had extensive discussions with the newspaper that published it, showed them audit reports, and filed tax returns. But it keeps coming back with that 20 billion. We earn around 300 million per year. Tata Steel Netherlands is part of a holding company that also includes Tata Steel UK, which has offsettable losses. But we as TSN are therefore paying taxes to that holding company."

The utmost is being asked of your leadership right now. The president of the COR calls you a manager of integrity. It is granted to you. What is your leadership style?

HvdB: "I try to choose a positive approach and to involve and appreciate people from there. That gives me energy. I see that around me. Also on the Friday that the second RIVM report came out. We know it's coming. We have our specialists, our communication people, we have the legal department, public affairs and I have to go in front of the cameras. Then you see how we all work together. Then everyone is at their best. I like that. I don't have to stand there and say, you have to do this, you have to do that, and that comma there. I think a lot of people like working for me. I'm deep in it. I stand for the company and the people in the company. I have a good relationship with the works council and the unions. You can't achieve anything here in IJmuiden if you don't have the staff behind you. Then you have no chance, that's what I've learned. And I appreciate that too. And then I, too, sometimes make the mistake of not informing them quickly enough. Here in North Holland they don't mince their words. You have to be given the leadership."

You got your PhD in physics in 1989 and ten years later you did the Executive MBA at Nyenrode. A useful foundation for weathering this management storm?

HvdB: "I was a technologist and lacked general management knowledge; the studies used to be much more one-sided. I really enjoyed those one and a half years at Nyenrode, with that semester in America. I was a sponge sucking up knowledge. It has also started to help me more and more I notice. Now everything comes together with what I learned at Nyenrode, it really helped me a lot. I am a perfectionist and could live with the enormous time pressure. That is also the case now. We have limited time and must quickly grasp things."

How do you relax?

HvdB: "Well... Nowadays you're always on, online. I do notice that and I always get push notifications when there is something. I see things all the time. I don't watch too much television, I think. All those talk shows... Then I see other CEOs and think, what would I think of them? What is happening now with The Voice. Then it starts to grind in my mind. How does that actually work here? I do have an image of it, we are an insufficiently diverse and inclusive company. We are working on that, but are we doing enough? Your task as CEO is a very important one. How is social safety perceived in the workplace? By women, migrants, people of color? Surveys show that we really have work to do. I find it hard to really cut loose. I try to meditate with Headspace. And I have a boat that is at the NDSM shipyard in Amsterdam. We don't sail it enough but it's also nice to be on it. To mess around a bit, do some odd jobs. Doing technical work. At home I do some sport, but not enough. I don't feel that I have a good balance. And I have to work on that, it's important to keep it up. To be clear and look at things from a distance. If you're always in it deep then you don't see it anymore."

The conversation has come to an end. Meanwhile, in The Hague, State Secretary Heijnen promised the Lower House that she will hold Tata Steel to 'its promise to halve emissions of certain carcinogenic substances (PAHs) by the end of this year'. I say goodbye and walk away, thinking: 'the right person, at the right time, for all stakeholders.' ♦