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Many in the steel industry think the future could yet be brighter as well as greener.
鋼鐵行業的許多人認為，未來可能更加光明，也更加環保。
Demand is expected to grow: building wind turbines, for example, will require lots of steel.
預計需求將會增長：舉例來說，建造風力渦輪機將需要大量鋼材。
Britain exports around 8m tonnes of scrap a year, much of which could be fed to EAFS.
英國每年出口約800萬噸廢料，其中大部分可以用電弧爐冶煉。
Steel companies will nevertheless be loth to invest without two sorts of government help.
然而，如果政府不提供下述兩種援助，鋼鐵公司不會愿意進行投資。
One looks more likely than the other.
其中一種援助實現的可能性更大。
The first is a hefty subsidy for the switch to greener steelmaking.
第一種是為鋼鐵公司提供巨額補貼，幫助它們向更環保的煉鋼方式轉變。
Canada, France, Germany, Spain and others are already doling out plenty for both EAFS and hydrogen-powered direct reduction.
加拿大、法國、德國、西班牙和其他國家為了讓鋼鐵公司使用電弧爐和氫氣直接還原技術而提供了大量資金。
Cash is on offer in Britain too: 300m Pounds each, it is said, for Tata and British Steel, coupled with a carbon border tariff, similar to one being concocted in the European Union, to keep out dirtier imports.
英國也在提供資金：據說，塔塔鋼鐵和英國鋼鐵公司各獲得了3億英鎊的資助，再加上碳邊境稅（類似于歐盟正在制定的關稅），以阻止更骯臟的進口。
But that is less than the companies were asking for a few months ago, looks less generous than elsewhere - the French are putting 1.7bn Euros ($1.8bn) into two sites - and may depend on job guarantees.
但這些資金沒有達到兩家公司幾個月前提出的要求，看起來也沒有其它國家那么慷慨——法國將在兩個地點投入17億歐元（合18億美元）——而且可能取決于工作保障。
The second is much cheaper electricity.
第二種援助是更低的電價。
UK Steel, the industry's trade body, calculates that steelmakers in Britain pay far more than those in France and Germany, which face much lower power-grid charges and “policy” costs such as environmental levies.
鋼鐵行業的行業組織英國鋼鐵協會計算出，英國鋼鐵制造商的支出遠遠高于法國和德國的鋼鐵制造商，后者要支付的電費和環境稅等“政策”成本比英國低得多。
Switching to EAFS, which use a lot more electricity than old-fashioned furnaces, will make this hurt all the more.
改用比老式煉爐耗電多得多的電弧爐，會讓情況更加糟糕。
Although the government is providing discounts to businesses to dampen the steep rise in wholesale energy prices, UK Steel complains that British steelmakers can still expect to pay around 60% more in 2023-24 than the Germans, who have been guaranteed a lower price.
盡管英國政府正在為企業提供折扣，以抵消飆升的能源批發價格，但英國鋼鐵協會抱怨稱，德國鋼鐵公司獲得了能源價格進一步降低的保證，2023-2024年，英國鋼鐵制造商仍可能比德國鋼鐵制造商多付出約60%的成本。
Would it matter if the steel industry faded away?
如果英國的鋼鐵行業消失了，會有什么大不了的嗎？
Perhaps not.
可能沒什么大不了。
Britain is a small steelmaker these days, 27th in the world, below Austria and Belgium.
如今，英國只是一個小型鋼鐵生產國，在世界上排名第27位，位于奧地利和比利時之后。
It imports more than half of its steel already.
英國一半以上的鋼鐵都是進口的。
But decommissioning and redundancy are also far from costless.
但老式煉爐的正式停用和裁員也要付出巨大代價。
Steel towns would lose jobs that pay better than the national norm.
鋼鐵城里工資高于全國標準的工作崗位將會消失。
And steel, like energy, is something for which few governments like to rely wholly on foreigners.
和能源一樣，大多數政府不愿完全依賴于國外進口鋼鐵。
Steelmaking in Britain has muddled through for years.
多年來，英國的鋼鐵生產一直在蒙混過關。
It may end up doing so again.
最終，它可能還會這樣做。
