Staff Reporter
JAMES Mnyupe, the Presidential Economic Advisor and Green Hydrogen Commissioner, emphasized that Namibia’s green hydrogen ambitions aim to reshape the structure of the Namibian economy and, ultimately, make Vision 2030 a reality.
He made this statement at the Namibia Green Hydrogen MasterClass held in Windhoek from 21 to 22 November. The masterclass, aimed at demystifying the complexities of the green hydrogen value chain, was hosted by the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), in partnership with the Hanns Seidel Foundation Namibia, Construction Industries Federation of Namibia (CIF Namibia), Green Hydrogen Organisation – GH2, Namibia Green Hydrogen Research Institute, University of Namibia (UNAM), and the Renewable Energy Industry Association of Namibia.
Mnyupe explained that venturing into the green hydrogen space holds the potential to help Namibia achieve several critical objectives outlined in Vision 2030. He highlighted the diversification of the economy as well as the reduction of unemployment and inequality as key goals that can be addressed if Namibia’s Green Hydrogen ambitions become a reality.
The Green Hydrogen Commissioner emphasized that Vision 2030 sets a target for 90% of Namibia’s economic output to be derived from the secondary and tertiary sectors by 2030. This shift, he said, aims to reduce the nation’s heavy dependence on the primary sector, primarily centred around extraction activities.
He stressed that Green Hydrogen could serve as a catalyst to propel the country closer to this target by opening doors to new products and services. Mnyupe cited various opportunities, including electricity, water provision, hydrogen, ammonia, fertilizers, methanol, green iron, and potentially green steel, as examples. Moreover, he underscored the industry’s potential to establish fuel bunkering services, enabling Namibia to power ships globally.
“Hydrogen is not the endgame; becoming a service station for ships around the world is a whole other ball game. That is a multi-billion US Dollar industry that we’re trying to break into, and we’re now partnering with the largest shipping company from Belgium to do that. That’s not too bad,” Mnyupe said.
Green industrialization, he explained, offers Namibia the chance to diversify its economy, shielding it from external economic shocks.
Mnyupe added that the industry can also potentially address the country’s significant unemployment challenge, which stands at 33%. He explained that to address this challenge, the country needs to create about 495,000 jobs by 2030, and while the green industry cannot address this problem on its own, it can significantly contribute to addressing this challenge.
“Renewable energy and that whole sector are very labour-intensive industries, right? And it’s not all complex labour. About 89% of it is semi-skilled and low-skilled people, which should be able to absorb a lot of our labour,” Mnyupe explained.
According to him, Green Hydrogen will also allow the country to reduce income inequality, which is one of the major goals outlined in Vision 2030. He explained that Vision 2030 calls for the country to reduce its Gini coefficient, which represents the distribution of income across a population, by 2030.
“Today our Gini coefficient is 0.59. We’re the second-highest unequal country in the world in terms of income inequality. Vision2030 wants us to be at 0.3 as a measure of inequality,” the Green Hydrogen Commissioner added.
