By Bertha Tobias
Namibia has captivated global attention with its daring aspirations to become a green hydrogen leader, leveraging a competitive advantage in the form of abundant wind and sunlight.
Presented by Namibian authorities as a silver bullet to both job creation and progressive climate action, the Daures Green Hydrogen Village (poised to become Africa’s first 100% net-zero green community) and Hyphen’s US$10-billion project at the Tsau //Khaeb National Park are the poster children for Namibia’s green hydrogen dreams.
Most Namibians are skeptical. Some of the scepticism is because of a legitimate inability to decipher the complicated industry jargon. Some of the scepticism emanates from the logistical concerns – green hydrogen is a highly flammable gas which is notoriously difficult to transport due to its low volumetric energy density.
What I’ve decided to coin the green hydrogen “spectrum of sentiment” ranges from staunch enthusiast to devoted critic. Regardless of your position on the spectrum, we must all be invested in ensuring that Namibia is not reduced to a pawn in the global geopolitical chessboard of decarbonization and net zero targets.
Green hydrogen, produced by splitting water using renewable energy, is a promising decarbonization pathway — if well executed. Emerging as an international energy darling in recent years, Namibia’s green hydrogen dreams are being financed by the German Economic Affairs and Climate Ministry €13 million (US$14.4 million) and the EU (€36.9m). Japan is also an apparent trade partner.
While these developments are promising, they implore reflection about Namibia’s relational agency in green hydrogen partnerships. History is abundant with examples of developing countries which have been reduced to political, economic and socio-technical fodder for the Global North. Will Namibia be able to assert itself as an equal partner, or will green energy imperialism reduce it to a mere supplier of resources for wealthier nations’ climate goals?
Economic geography researchers Benedikt Walker and Linus Kalvelage offer a helpful analytical starting point to conceptualize Namibia’s green hydrogen trade relations. Walker & Kalvelage frame decarbonization as a state project from which “extraterritorial institutions” emerge.
These institutions, defined as organizations that are not controlled by actors in the territories where they operate, strategically and proactively shape dynamics abroad by de-risking, creating assets and establishing a market.
Indeed, extraterritorial institutions must, to the most reasonable extent possible, coordinate state-state interests while respecting sovereign territorial rights of the host country, most especially as it pertains to land and natural resource use. At the risk of negating Namibia’s positionality as an autonomous, self-determining state with its own independent vision for
climate action, the apparent free lunches dished out for green hydrogen development illustrate how global extraterritorial institutions are subtly and effectively reshaping sovereignty through green hydrogen climate finance mobilization.
Namibia’s green hydrogen ambitions unfold within a global energy transition driven by the urgency of climate change. Wealthy nations, particularly in Europe, are aggressively pursuing clean energy to meet net-zero targets. Namibia’s strategic positioning makes it a prime partner, but this comes with risks.
Trade partners like Germany wield strategic bargaining power vis-à-vis their investments and technical expertise in the country’s green hydrogen vision. Obviously, bilateral agreements for capital intensive climate projects are not a new or unique phenomenon in international trade.
However, we cannot deny the political awkwardness of staking the bulk of our climate ambitions on our former imperial power. Outsourcing net zero environmental policy creates a push-and-pull between external priorities and Namibia’s own developmental ambitions.
For Namibia, the promise of green hydrogen is about more than meeting global climate targets—it’s tied to the country’s hopes for economic growth, job creation, and energy security.
However, the involvement of powerful foreign actors means that key decisions about land use, resource allocation, and energy exports are no longer solely in Namibia’s hands. Admittedly, this reality comes with the territory — we are but a small player in a global system where the rules are shaped by those with more power and influence.
Germany has stressed that it will only import excess energy that Namibia doesn’t use for domestic consumption. However, this interest in Namibia’s green hydrogen industry must not be misinterpreted as a noble, self-sacrificing act on the part of the international community.
In an active effort to meet its climate targets and decarbonise its hard-to-abate sectors like heavy shipping or aviation, Germany cannot produce enough green hydrogen domestically to satisfy its energy demand.
The country’s import strategy outlines a framework to meet predicted demand for hydrogen and its derivatives, which the government is estimating to reach 95 to 130 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2030. About 50 to 70 percent of this demand is expected to be met by imports, making Germany one of the world’s largest hydrogen importers in the future.
This context ought to elucidate that investments in Namibia’s green hydrogen industry are not a free lunch. True partnerships require Namibia to take an assertive role in defining the terms of collaborative, dignified trade.
To be truly transformative, Namibian green hydrogen strategists must ensure local capacity building, technology transfer (not merely replication), and true, transparent retention of energy to serve the 80% of rural Namibia without access to electricity.
Without clear policies and frameworks, Namibia risks becoming overly dependent on external partners who may prioritize their own decarbonization goals over the country’s broader economic and broader development goals.
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman popularized that there is no such thing as a free lunch. What’s the catch? Who owns Namibia’s green future?
*Bertha Tobias is a Rhodes Scholar pursuing a full time Masters of Science in Environment, Enterprise & Sustainability at Oxford University. Connect on bertha.tobias@sant.ox.ac.uk.
