The private sector has been touted as a key player in bringing sustainable investments, knowledge and developing skills if the European Union-Namibia roadmap strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials value chain and green hydrogen is to succeed.
“One important element of this roadmap is the facilitation of investments in Namibia, for which the involvement of the private sector is key. And this is precisely why we are jointly hosting this business forum – to connect European and Namibian businesses,” said Koen Doens, the European Union Commission’s Director General for International Partnerships at the end of the two-day EU-Namibia business conference in Brussels, Belgium.
The roadmap, which begins this year and ends in 2025, is structured along six areas of cooperation centring on the integration of raw materials and renewable hydrogen value chains; alignment on ESG criteria; mobilisation of funding for hard and soft infrastructure; capacity building, training and skills development; research and innovation; and regulatory alignment.
“It is, therefore, essential that we engage with European and Namibian businesses and understand their challenges, needs and constraints to help mitigate these gaps. This narrows to other areas of collaboration under the roadmap aimed at fostering investments around infrastructure, such as transport corridors and access to water and energy needs,” said Doens.
“Since Namibia is a frontrunner in Africa on renewable hydrogen while the mining industry is very energy-intensive, it only makes sense that we cover both critical raw materials (CRM) and renewable hydrogen value chain development under this partnership and in our roadmap,” he added.
Other areas of cooperation include improving the regulatory framework to provide legal security to the private sector and improving the investment climate. However, this would be done in adherence to environmental, social and governance safeguards, as well as relevant international standards to ensure sustainable and resilient value chains, Doen said.
“To build up industries for the beneficiation of natural resources locally, skills and training initiatives are needed. In addition, we will also cooperate on research and innovation to develop new climate-smart technologies.
“Therefore, we are taking a holistic view with this partnership. We are looking beyond the extraction of minerals, covering not only the entire value chain from exploration to recycling but we also follow a 360-degree approach by looking at the entire ecosystem around a mine site,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hans Stausboll, who is the commission’s Director of Relations with Africa, said to achieve climate objectives, there is a need for raw materials with resilient and sustainable value chains while ensuring that increased demand for CRM is not done at the expense of the environment or local communities.
“We want to build meaningful CRM partnerships, which prioritise local value addition and industrialisation, this has to be a win-win endeavour. Hence, this forum has showcased how we can bring skills and innovation together to leverage investment projects. In today’s various sessions on CRM, we established the many opportunities Namibia has to offer in this sector. This is why we aim to promote local value addition in Namibia. This aim has been anchored into this forum,” stated Stausboll.
He further highlighted that hydrogen is a key to transitioning to climate neutrality and enhancing energy security. Therefore, clean hydrogen shows how the world can have a thriving economy while taking care of the planet.
“Under the ambitious leadership of President [Hage] Geingob, we commend Namibia’s efforts to develop its world-class renewable resources to spur green industrialisation. We share Namibia’s vision that renewable energy and hydrogen can be a green catalyst for job creation and economic growth.”
“We will continue through economic diplomacy and technical cooperation to work together on enhancing the business environment and investment climate. We want to promote Namibia as a business destination for European companies, banks and investors because of its political stability and shared values of free trade and sustainability,” added Stausboll.
Namibia has lined up projects, such as Hyphen, Cleanenergy Solutions, Daures Green Hydrogen, Hydrogène de France and HyIron, and most of them have started groundworks.
