Kandjoze defends green hydrogen projects

The government’s green hydrogen council chairperson, Obeth Kandjoze, has defended its renewable energy project against continued criticism about its environmental impact.

This is despite president Nangolo Mbumba telling foreign media that he had not heard of any environmental red flags raised against the green hydrogen projects.

In an opinion piece by Kan­djoze, he deals with concerns raised by the Namibia Chamber of Environment and economist Rowland Brown regarding the impact of the projects on Tsau //­Khaeb National Park and how it will jeopardise the “pristine and untouched national park”.

Mbumba on Tuesday said he has not heard of any environmental red flags being raised.

“It’s the first time I heard the criticism in that direction,” Mbumba told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

The president and Kandjoze are together in Hamburg, Germany.

Kandjoze defended the project 70km north of Lüderitz, disputing that the project would affect 40% of the park.

“The latest estimates from Hyphen Hydrogen Energy indicate that the project will, at most, have a 0.07% footprint and is targeting to reduce this impact further, with over 90% of this impact in the least environmentally sensitive areas of the park,” he says.

Kandjoze, who doubles as the director general of the National Planning Commission, argues that the park has been subjected to mining activities before and [the government is] currently supports mining prospecting licences for various rare earth metals.

“Despite these activities, and with increased focus in recent years on advanced mining and environmental preservation practices, these activities have not destroyed the ecosystem of the park,” he says.

He says Rowland Brown and the Namibia Chamber of Environment’s Chris Brown have openly lobbied for the establishment of oil and gas assets in the same park.

“Some of which, like Kudu gas, may increase the emissions of the entire Namibian energy sector by more than 15 times, an estimate published by Cirrus Capital, Rowland Brown’s research firm,” he wrote.

The Namibian Chamber of Environment in May said the planned hydrogen project in southern Namibia should be stopped until an environmental assessment impact study is done.

In their paper, focusing on the potential risk of the project in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park area, the chamber said the project poses a severe threat to one of the few global biodiversity hotspots in an arid area.

“To claim that a maximum 0.07% footprint in the park — proposed to be developed to the highest international environmental standards, with extreme care taken to locate development in areas of least environmental significance, a luxury which mining companies do not have – will cause irreversible damage to a 22 000 square kilometre park, more than twice the size of Qatar, is a statement that must be subjected to the ‘true/false’ test, as advocated by the flamboyant analyst,” Kandjoze wrote.

Environmentalist Reinhold Mangundu on Wednesday expressed concerns similar to that of the chamber and Brown, stating that numerous concerns have been raised about the lack of consultation surrounding these projects, particularly regarding the potential destruction of the Tsau //Khaeb National Park.

“This area is a biodiversity hotspot, and plans to develop infrastructure there pose significant threats,” the environmentalist said.

Mangundu said the Namibian Chamber of Environment has called for an independent and transparent strategic environmental assessment of the green hydrogen sector, highlighting that proposed developments could severely impact the park’s integrity, biodiversity, and future tourism.

He said the concerns are well-documented in various reports, making the president’s dismissal of criticism all the more troubling.