Green hydrogen SESA kicks off
NGH2P hosts launch event
Strategic assessment of southern green industrialisation gains momentum.
The first-ever Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA), through the lens of green industrialisation, has been launched for green energy production and the industrialisation of Namibia’s Southern Corridor Development Initiative (SCDI).The SCDI is where Hyphen Hydrogen Energy leads Namibia’s first gigawatt-scale hydrogen-based development, aiming to cement green industrialisation throughout the country.
On Friday, 1 August 2025, the Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme (NGH2P) hosted the launch of the study under the leadership of the Environmental Investment Fund. The SCDI is the first of three green industrial valleys that Namibia intends to develop in the south, the centre and the north-west of the country.
According to Joseph Mukendwa, head of policy, planning and strategy at the programme, the assessment will look at issues including infrastructure, access to basic services, land tenure, livelihoods, population dynamics, heritage resources and the just energy transition.
He added that it will look at the implementation of the green industrialisation blueprint that the programme has put together for the country, which identifies eight industries that can be localised to Namibia.
Keeping it local
Local production of renewable energy equipment like solar panels and electrolysers, refining of minerals such as lithium and rare earth elements, and production of green hydrogen derivatives, synthetic fuels and direct reduced iron are listed among opportunities to be pursued.
All the proposed developments will cement green hydrogen as a strategic and transformative sector for the development of Namibia. This focus area is also identified in the sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), which calls for the development of sectoral policy – a draft of which has already been submitted to government – financial de-risking, and establishing funding mechanisms for the project, building local manufacturing, and establishing green industrial zones, along with the development of common user infrastructure.
Skills development must be prioritised to ensure Namibians get jobs, while environmental de-risking is also a focus, he said.
Biodiversity hotspot
To be located in the Tsau Khaeb National Park, which is one of the few arid environment biodiversity hotspots acknowledged internationally, the SCDI will have to protect the environment while also allowing Namibia to leapfrog into industrialisation with the use of green energy.
According to Eline van der Linden, head of impact and ESG at the green hydrogen programme, the SESA is not just a study, but also a consultative process. “We need to focus on sustainable development; otherwise, why are we doing green hydrogen?” she said.
According to her, “our value chain, to get to green hydrogen, should be carefully managed and carefully planned.”
She said that while Namibians are generally familiar with Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA), the SESA looks at multiple projects, multiple sectors, and is focused on a larger scale of development.
Through the lens
“This is the first SESA in the world that looks at the issues in the socio-economic space and the biodiversity and environmental protection space, through the lens of green hydrogen,” she said.
According to Van der Linden, through the SESA, land use for competing developments in the SCDI can be minimised. “Finding the balance between socio-economic ambitions and the protection of biodiversity, environment and ecosystem is the crux of the SESA,” she said.
As Namibia does not yet have relevant legislation for a SESA, “we are leaning on the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards,” she said, which, according to her, will also help participating initiatives to access concessional funding to develop their projects.
Specialists
The assessment is being carried out by Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a global consultancy specialising in environmental, health, safety, risk and social consulting services.
ERM lead social scientist Danielle Sanderson said that the current phase of the assessment entails scoping of the work, to be followed by a baseline assessment, a final assessment, and eventually the dissemination of the findings and capacity building to ensure quality implementation of resultant decisions.
According to Van der Linden, enterprise development, certification, equipment standards and readying local businesses to participate in the SCDI will be part of the activities to follow.
She acknowledged that until now, a SESA has not been carried out and that it should have been done previously. “But now it has been decided that it must be done. Hyphen has been in feasibility since 2024 and is hoping for a final investment decision by December 2026. The ESIA is ongoing, and there has been no groundbreaking yet. There is still enough space to influence decision-making,” she said.