Namibia opens green industry talks
Namibia has opened a high-level joint mission aimed at finalising a national investment plan that could unlock up to US$250 million (N$4.12 billion) in concessional climate finance, with green hydrogen, ammonia, direct iron ore reduction and fertilisers at the centre of the country's ambitions to industrialise rather than export raw materials.
The mission, running from 22 to 26 June 2026 in Windhoek, is convened under the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Industry Decarbonisation Programme and brings together the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), line ministries, state-owned enterprises, the private sector and civil society organisations.
At stake is the finalisation of Namibia's Sectoral Transformation Investment Plan, known as the s-TIP, which will serve as the formal financing blueprint through which the country seeks to access concessional resources for low-carbon industrial development.
'We seek to industrialise'
Opening the mission, the director general of the National Planning Commission, Dr Kaire Mbuende, said Namibia's ambition extended well beyond commodity exports.
"Namibia's ambition is clear. We do not seek merely to export raw materials; we seek to industrialise," Mbuende said. "We want to create value locally, generate employment, support Namibian enterprises, expand exports and strengthen regional value chains."
He said the s-TIP should be guided by three principles: alignment with national priorities, bankability of proposed projects, and inclusion of communities through jobs, skills and local enterprise development.
Mbuende said the CIF programme should be understood as a catalytic opportunity rather than a comprehensive financing facility.
"While it will not finance every project or address every challenge, it can unlock additional investment, strengthen project preparation and support the infrastructure required for long-term industrial growth," he said.
He identified several practical barriers that the investment plan would need to address directly, including grid capacity, water supply, logistics requirements, regulatory readiness and environmental safeguards.
Concessional finance as a risk-reduction tool
Speaking on behalf of the multilateral development banks (MDBs), Nadia Taobane, lead energy specialist at the World Bank, said the programme was designed to deploy concessional resources strategically to reduce risk and attract private capital.
"The CIF Industrial Decarbonisation Programme can help Namibia address these policy objectives in an integrated manner, particularly by deploying concessional resources that can support reducing the risks associated with first-of-a-kind technologies, address financing and infrastructure gaps, and mobilise the private capital needed," Taobane said.
She said both the World Bank Group and the AfDB had spent several months working alongside Namibian counterparts to develop what she described as an efficient execution model designed to maximise capital mobilisation and development impact.
Taobane said the mission represented an important milestone in translating Namibia's green industrialisation ambitions into a coherent and financeable investment programme.
"Namibia has a significant opportunity to use its world-class renewable energy resources, mineral endowment, and emerging green industrial ecosystem to develop competitive low-carbon industries and participate in new value chains," she said.
How Namibia was selected and what it has done so far
Namibia was selected to participate in the CIF Industry Decarbonisation Programme on the basis of its potential to contribute to global decarbonisation while advancing its own development priorities.
The programme is being advanced domestically under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance, with implementation coordinated through the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) and the Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme (NGH2P). The World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) serves as the coordinating multilateral institution, working alongside the AfDB and IFC.
An initial project preparation grant of up to US$500 000 (N$8.2 million) was approved to fund the preparation of the s-TIP. Those resources have been used to mobilise technical, financial, environmental and social consultants; conduct site visits to the Erongo and //Kharas regions; and undertake structured stakeholder consultations at national and regional levels.
A formal scoping mission was conducted in Namibia in September 2025, followed by a series of technical working sessions in April 2026 that advanced work on the s-TIP's structure, priority components and financing architecture.
What the joint mission aims to achieve
Over five days, the joint mission will work toward a final version of the s-TIP through a series of structured sessions targeting different groups of stakeholders.
The mission aims to present the advanced draft of the s-TIP to key decision-makers; reach alignment among the MDBs, the government and the CIF Secretariat on technical, financial and institutional arrangements; and engage the private sector to validate project concepts and identify investment barriers.
Civil society organisations, community representatives and labour groups will also participate, with the mission tasked with integrating just transition principles and ensuring that socio-economic benefits, including job creation and skills development, are embedded in the final plan.
Development partners with active roles in Namibia's green industrialisation agenda, including GIZ, KfW, the European Union and UNIDO, are also participating.
The CIF Secretariat is represented by Siddharth Dasgupta, its head of industry decarbonisation.
