By Hage G. Geingob
Namibia's policy on international relations and cooperation
is anchored in multilateralism because our very independence was a product of
international solidarity. We are a nation that was midwifed by the United
Nations. It is for this reason that as we crafted our green economic recovery
plan; we knew that it had to build a more sustainable future for our children
and their children.
Namibia is a small, open economy that is impacted by
independent intervening variables, including climate change and its disruptive
consequences. Our economy is heavily reliant on the agricultural sector, which
employs more than 20% of our labour force. Namibia experiences recurrent
droughts, the most recent of which have been recorded as the worst in history.
These droughts can be linked to climate change, which according to the 2021
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, is unequivocally a
man-made phenomenon. Therefore, Namibians must play a role in crafting
climate-change solutions, not just for the sake of our citizens, but indeed for
the global community at large.
Accordingly, Namibia is poised to tackle climate change, by
establishing a green economy that will drive our economic recovery as envisioned
for African countries by African Heads of State during the launch of the
African Union Continental Green Recovery Action Plan. In this context, we have
ambitious plans to develop green and blue economies as articulated under the
economic advancement pillar of our HPPII.
The feasibility of these plans is underscored by the
abundant availability of sunlight throughout the year and proximity to billions
of cubic meters of seawater and vast marine resources in the Atlantic Ocean.
We have the potential to capture around 10 hours of strong
sunlight per day for 300 days per year. As a result, Namibia has some of the
highest solar irradiance potentials of any country in Africa, which is
sufficient to provide power for our people and our neighbours.
It is with this potential in mind that we have entered into
a partnership with the Government of Botswana and the United States - under the
auspices of USAID's Power Africa - which culminated in the signing of a
Memorandum of Intent in April 2021. With support from the global community, we
intend to utilize the abundance of sunlight to produce solar power for our own
benefit and for our neighbours.
The generation of solar power will complement Namibia's
available green energy portfolio, such as hydroelectricity, which already
constitutes more than two-thirds of our installed power capacity. Electrifying
key parts of our economy and of our neighbours will spur unprecedented economic
activity and growth for Namibia and Southern Africa.
A green hydrogen economy
It is well known that clean electricity is not available in
sufficient quantities to adequately supply global demand. This challenge was
underlined in the Net Zero by 2050 report published by the International Energy
Association (IEA), which noted that hard-to-abate sectors - like cement, steel
and chemicals, road trucking, container shipping, and aviation - will need
green hydrogen if the world is to remain on course to achieve climate
neutrality by 2050.
Namibia is better-positioned resource-wise, as well as
having the political will to answer that clarion call.
To produce green hydrogen competitively a country would need
world-class transmission infrastructure, international port facilities,
world-class wind and solar resources, access to sustainable sources of clean
water (without displacing existing consumers), lots of lands and a conducive
legislative environment. These are all ingredients that Namibia has. Already,
our country is home to the largest desalination plant in Southern Africa,
meaning that the conditions for producing abundant clean water in a desert
country are conducive.
Once Namibia has successfully incubated the green hydrogen
economy, it will enable the country to become a supplier of energy, rather than
an importer. Judging from the scale of the initial proposals submitted to
Namibia by interested investors, these renewable projects, relative to the size
of Namibia's economy, will be greatly transformative to the Namibian economy.
Currently, at its peak, the economy consumes about 640
megawatts of power per annum whereas the proposals presented to the government
entail investments that could produce 10 times that amount of peak generation
capacity in the next 10 years. But Namibians will not have to wait until 2030
to start enjoying the benefits of our green revolution because construction of
the pilot plants will begin within the next 12 months
A new frontier
The required infrastructure for power trading already
exists. About 40% of Namibia's power currently comes from South Africa and is
primarily driven by coal-fired power plants. We imagine a reality where Namibia
exports clean energy to South Africa thereby assisting the Southern African
region to decarbonize.
Namibia also boasts world-class port infrastructure in the
cities of Luderitz to the south, and Walvis Bay to the east. Renewable
electricity, and green hydrogen and its derivatives, provide Namibia with a
real opportunity to attract meaningful foreign direct investment, create
well-paying jobs, further diversify its export basket, and improve its terms of
trade. Therefore, the development of a green and blue economy, as well as a
green hydrogen industry, are some of the cornerstones of the HPPII.
As Namibia embarks on this new frontier, it is imperative
that its vision of shared prosperity on the national, regional and global
levels is realized. Meaning that we do not neglect those without access to
political and economic power today nor exclude those who currently rely on
carbon fuels.
COVID-19 has already widened the existing chasm of
inequality, a scourge Namibia is all too familiar with. With a Gini coefficient
of 59.1, inequality is a foe we have sworn to tackle. This is why, even during
these fiscally challenging times, we have resolved to establish a sovereign
wealth fund, to ensure that both current and future generations will enjoy
balanced and equal access to Namibia's wealth for many years to come.
Namibia also has a sophisticated capital market - the second
deepest on the continent - which can absorb project bonds, green bonds, and
sustainable bonds. The contractual and collective savings of Namibian citizens
equate to more than 100% of our GDP and stand ready to be deployed alongside
funds from interested investors. In addition to capital, our tertiary
institutions are in the process of establishing a National Green Hydrogen
Research Institute, to ensure that the requisite research and development is
executed right here at home. This will enable Namibians to capture as much of
the value chain as possible.
Namibia is uniquely positioned to become the renewable
energy hub of the continent and we are determined to play a leading role in
illustrating how environmentally sustainable business practices can be profitable
and transformative undertakings.
As the glaciers retreat, wildfires spread, and sea level
rises, climate change is at the forefront of our global leaders' minds.
Sustainable financing can change the structure of economies that are bold
enough to provide a healthy portfolio of investment opportunities, which are
aligned with the global agenda to "build back better".
Towards this end, we encourage developed nations and
multilateral funding intuitions to find innovative ways to deploy affordable
capital that is aligned with the science-based urgency to reach worldwide
carbon-neutrality targets.
*This article was first published by the World Economic
Forum.