Team Europe Boosts Namibia’s Green Industrialisation Agenda

Namibia's Green Industrialisation Agenda has received a significant boost with the announcement of four new Team Europe initiatives, collectively amounting to EUR 36,9 million, during an official signing ceremony held alongside the Global African Hydrogen Summit in Windhoek recently.

These initiatives highlight the comprehensive collaboration between Namibia and its European partners in driving sustainable energy and green transition efforts, as well as accelerating the creation of decent Namibian jobs in these sectors.

EU Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, stated, "The announcements today reaffirm the commitment under the EU Global Gateway Strategy and by Team Europe to support Namibia in realizing the late President Geingob's vision of becoming a global hub for green hydrogen production and a leader in the global decarbonization agenda. These initiatives also mark critical milestones in the implementation of the Strategic Partnership on Green Hydrogen and CRM Value Chains, signed in 2022. They will contribute to reinforcing our commercial relations in the green hydrogen and critical raw materials sectors, increase employment opportunities in Namibia and help both Namibia and the EU undergo their green transitions."

During the ceremony, EU Commissioner Simson first announced a significant new commitment of EUR 25 Million in grants of the European Union to support the Namibian Green Industrialisation Agenda. This contribution from the European Union aims to leverage many public and private sector investments across the hydrogen value chain, from production to transportation and storage, as well as downstream industries. In developing a sustainable green hydrogen value chain, the EU contribution will seek to increase local value addition, thereby supporting Namibia as it strives to move up higher in these value chains and create additional jobs.

The Global African Hydrogen Summit also featured the signing of the project "EU-GET.transform - Accelerating the Energy Transition in Namibia" Project. This initiative, co-financed by the EU and Germany, provides EUR 2.7 million in technical assistance to support long-term energy planning, renewable energy generation, and grid integration in collaboration with key Namibian stakeholders.

The third announcement highlighted a EUR 8.8 million commitment from the Netherlands, Germany and the EU to support the Namibian Green Hydrogen Programme (NGHP), which is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the ambitious Namibian Green Hydrogen Strategy and the Green Industrialisation Blueprint. The substantial contribution from the European partners will help the NGHP to fulfil its key mandate: to create a conducive environment for investment, technology development, and market development to harness the country's renewable energy potential and to position Namibia as a global leader in the production and export of green hydrogen.

The final announcement and agreement worth EUR 430,000 was signed between Germany's BMWK and Namibia's Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) to work on Quality Infrastructure for Green Hydrogen (GH2). This partnership focuses on creating a regulatory framework for quality and safety for GH2, developing quality infrastructure services, and facilitating national and international standardisation for the sector.