LONDON: Indian-owned Tata Steel is to cut about 3,000 jobs at a plant in Wales, a source with knowledge of the plan said Thursday, as the industry struggles to finance greener production of the metal.

The company will on Friday confirm the closure of two blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks, resulting in the loss of over one-third of staff, the source told AFP.

Asked for comment, Tata said it had “been engaging regularly and constructively with... trades union colleagues and their advisors for some time about the best way forward to create a sustainable green steel future for Tata Steel in the UK.

“When we have any formal announcement to make about our proposals for the future, we will always share these with our employees first,” it said in a statement.

Towards the end of last year, the UK government provided £500 million ($634 million) to fund the production of “greener” steel at the country’s biggest steelworks, while saying that 3,000 jobs were still at risk.

The money for an electric furnace safeguarded 5,000 of the more than 8,000 jobs.

Port Talbot steelworks is the UK’s single biggest carbon emitter, and the government has been looking to help Tata Steel and British Steel, run by Chinese group Jingye, to replace dirty blast furnaces.