Namibia eyes $250m green finance package
global programme designed to help developing economies cut industrial emissions while growing their economies.
The funding would be unlocked through the country's Sectoral Transformation Investment Plan (s-TIP), which is being developed under the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Industry Decarbonisation Programme (IDP).
Speaking at a CIF IDP s-TIP stakeholder engagement session in Lüderitz on 8 June, //Kharas governor Dawid Gertze said the programme would help Namibia move from ambition to implementation.
"It will allow Namibia to build a green industrial model that is nationally aligned and regionally grounded," Gertze said. "The CIF IDP s-TIP process is crucial for Namibia's emerging green industrial future because it provides an opportunity to move from ambition to structured implementation by helping the country identify, prioritise and prepare investable green industrial projects that can reduce industrial emissions while growing the economy."
He said the plan would also support sectoral analysis, feasibility studies, regulatory reviews and project pipeline development.
Gertze emphasised that Namibia's green industrialisation agenda had moved beyond policy discussion. "It is a practical regional and local issue involving livelihoods, infrastructure, jobs, skills development, environmental stewardship, community trust and how development is shaped together with the people who live where this transformation will take place," he said.
The governor said the //Kharas region was well positioned to anchor that transformation. "This region has land availability, world-class solar and wind resources, a strategic coastline, proximity to key port infrastructure and the potential to anchor new industrial corridors," he said. "The //Kharas region, therefore, occupies a special place in Namibia's emerging green industrial future."
He said the region was expected to host the country's largest green hydrogen project, Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, and was increasingly being recognised as a strategic hub for a broader renewable energy and low-carbon industrial ecosystem.
Gertze urged Namibians not to view green hydrogen as a narrowly focused energy project, but as a platform for industrial transformation.
"It forms part of a broader national effort to build domestic productive capacity, diversify the economy, create jobs and position Namibia within the low-carbon industries of the future," he said. He added that the country's sixth national development plan, NDP6, called for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to development, identifying wealth creation, improved equality and employment generation as central national goals, and setting a target of 30,000 green jobs by 2030.
The governor said the green industrialisation agenda extended beyond flagship projects to the ecosystem surrounding them, encompassing engineering services, logistics, transport, fabrication, accommodation, maintenance, utilities, water, port services and local enterprise development.
"It is about enabling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lüderitz, Aus and across the region to participate in emerging value chains," Gertze said. "It is about ensuring that communities see opportunities, not merely announcements."
He commended the government and its development partners for investing in skills development, noting that 90 students from the //Kharas and Hardap regions were currently enrolled at vocational training centres.
"We must continue building local skills, technical readiness and practical pathways into employment so that this new industry is not viewed from a distance by our youth but entered with confidence and competence," Gertze said.
The governor also pressed for meaningful community participation in shaping the s-TIP process. "The purpose of stakeholder engagement is not merely to endorse a process. It is to shape it," he said. "We do not want development to arrive in the region as a finished idea, with communities informed only at the end. We want development that listens, consults and respects both national ambitions and local realities."
Gertze called on project developers, state-owned enterprises and local authorities to continue engaging communities in good faith. "Transparency and responsiveness will be essential if the sector is to build trust and social legitimacy," he said.
