During COP27 in Egypt, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of Namibia Hage Geingob. It establishs a strategic partnership which aims to ensure the development of a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials, refined materials and renewable hydrogen to support the green and digital transformation of the partners’ economies.
The partnership will promote local value addition in Namibia by supporting the development of the mining and renewable hydrogen value chains. It will support sustainable raw materials value chains and facilitate investment and funding opportunities to modernise the Namibian industries and drive economic and social development.
The partnership contains six main pillars:
- Integration, where feasible, of raw materials and renewable hydrogen value chains, including networking, new business models and promotion and facilitation of trade and investment linkages;
- Cooperation to leverage Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Criteria and align with international standards;
- Mobilisation of funding for the development of soft and hard infrastructure required for projects development and for leveraging private sector funding through cooperation to address trade matters, including inclusiveness, and improving investments on climate action;
- Capacity building, training and skills development along raw materials and renewable hydrogen value chains;
- Co-operation on research and innovation along the raw materials value chain, including on mineral knowledge and circularity, hydrogen technologies and skills;
- Regulatory alignment, standards and certification.
Source: COP27: European Union concludes a strategic partnership with Namibia on sustainable raw materials and renewable hydrogen
