The Indian firm Tata Steel announced January 19 that it would be closing both blast furnaces at its plant in Port Talbot, Wales and eliminating 2,800 jobs in an effort to reduce costs and make the company more environmentally friendly.

According to the Associated Press, Tata is planning to switch from coal-fired blast furnaces to electric furnaces through a $634 million investment from the British government aimed at helping make the company’s steel operations greener.

The organization said that this shift would “reverse more than a decade of losses and transition from the legacy blast furnaces to a more sustainable, green steel business.” Tata added that it predicts the transition to electric furnaces will help the company cut its carbon emissions by up to 85%.

“The course we are putting forward is difficult, but we believe it is the right one,” said Tata Steel CEO T.V. Narendran.

The company said that it will likely have to eliminate roughly 2,800 jobs over the next 18 months with 300 more positions facing a longer-term risk.

Unions have called for one blast furnace to remain open while the electric one is built, but the unions said that Tata rejected that proposal. The Unite union said that it would “use everything in its armory” to prevent job cuts, including potential strikes.

The steel industry currently makes up 0.1% of the British economy despite creating 2.4% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to research from the House of Commons Library.