Namibia is finalising an investment plan to position green industrial projects to access up to US$250 million in concessional finance as the country broadens its ambitions beyond green hydrogen production to manufacturing, mineral processing and job creation.
National Planning Commission director-general and Green Industries Council chairperson Kaire Mbuende announced the initiative in a keynote address prepared for the African Green Industries Summit in Swakopmund.
The financing would be pursued under the Climate Investment Funds’ Industry Decarbonisation Programme and directed towards green industrialisation and reducing emissions in industries where decarbonisation is particularly difficult.
“Namibia is finalising its Sectoral Transformation Investment Plan under the Climate Investment Funds Industry Decarbonization Programme, which is intended to develop a credible pipeline of projects capable of accessing up to US$250 million in concessional finance for green industrialisation and the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industries,” Mbuende said.
The funding has not yet been secured, and the plan is to develop projects that qualify for the facility.
Mbuende said the country’s policy focus had shifted from determining how much green hydrogen Namibia could produce to identifying industries and value chains that could be built around it.
“The issue before us is therefore no longer only how much green hydrogen we can produce. It is what we can manufacture with it, the minerals we can beneficiate, the industries we can decarbonize, and the infrastructure we can develop,” he said.
“At the end of the day is a question of how many Namibian businesses and workers can participate in the resulting value chains.”
The African Green Industries Summit is being held under the theme “Powering African Industries for Sustainable Development” and builds on the Global African Hydrogen Summit.
Mbuende said the shift from a hydrogen-focused gathering to a broader green industries summit reflected Namibia’s policy shift, under which green hydrogen would enable wider industrial development rather than be treated as the final product.
Industrial targets
Namibia’s Sixth National Development Plan aims to increase the contribution of secondary industries to 25% of gross domestic product by 2030. Within that target, manufacturing is expected to rise from 10.6% to 18% of GDP, while manufactured products should account for 60% of total goods exports.
The plan also targets annual production of 1.3 million tonnes of green ammonia and two million tonnes of direct-reduced iron by 2030.
Other targets include producing 143 gigawatt-hours of green baseload electricity, creating 30 000 green hydrogen-related jobs and attaining 30% local content and participation.
Mbuende said these figures should not be viewed only as production targets, but as a basis for developing industries in which Namibian companies and workers could participate.
He cited the HyIron Oshivela project as an example of renewable energy and green hydrogen being used to produce low-carbon iron. The Daures Green Hydrogen Village, he said, showed how hydrogen development could connect to agriculture, fertiliser production, skills development and rural enterprise.
Namibia established the Green Industries Council to expand the country’s focus from hydrogen production to broader green industrialisation, policy coordination, institutional alignment and investment priorities.
Mbuende cautioned that a single institution could not deliver such an industrial programme because its success depended on energy, water, ports, railways, mining, manufacturing, finance, trade, skills development and environmental management advancing together.
Imported expertise
Skills development would also be necessary to ensure that the growth of green industries does not leave Namibia permanently dependent on foreign expertise.
“An industrial economy cannot depend permanently on importing the people it needs,” Mbuende said.
The Youth for Green Hydrogen Scholarship Programme is being used to train Namibians in technical fields linked to emerging industries.
Mbuende said communities hosting green industrial projects should not be reduced to locations from which resources are extracted, or infrastructure is developed.
“Local communities must not simply host industrial projects; they must participate in and benefit from them,” he said.
He called for private investors, development finance institutions, training institutions, entrepreneurs, women, young people, and local communities to participate in building the proposed value chains.
Environmental safeguards
Mbuende also acknowledged concerns about the possible environmental and social effects of large industrial projects, particularly where developments are planned in ecologically sensitive areas.
“Namibia should not be forced to choose between development and conservation. That is a false choice,” he said.
Strategic environmental and social assessments are being conducted in Namibia’s proposed green hydrogen valleys to examine the cumulative effects of multiple projects, identify sensitive areas and determine where development should proceed, require mitigation or be avoided.
Mbuende said the National Planning Commission was also advancing the Green Industrialisation Policy and strengthening coordination across government to establish a coherent policy and institutional framework.
He said Namibia had renewable energy potential, mineral resources, strategic ports, land and access to markets, but would have to process its resources and manufacture products locally to retain more economic value.
“Africa’s green transition must become more than an energy transition. It must become an industrial and employment transition,” Mbuende said.
