German government is ‘morally wrong to support destruction’ of Namibian national park for green hydrogen production 

The 3GW Hyphen Energy project in the Tsau Khaeb national park is set to build wind turbines on land deemed too ecologically sensitive for even eco-friendly tourism.

Flowers in Namibia’s Tsau Khaeb National Park, where Hyphen Hydrogen Energy is due to build 7GW of new wind and solar facilities. Photo: Namibian Chamber of Environment

Namibian environmentalists say that the 3GW green hydrogen project due to be built in a protected national park with about 7GW of new wind and solar farms, poses a severe threat to a globally significant biodiversity hotspot with many rare and endangered species.

Hyphen Hydrogen Energy’s $10bn Green Hydrogen Project is due to supply green ammonia to Germany, leading the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE) – an umbrella group of environmental organisations – to direct its ire at the German government for “strongly supporting” the project in the Tsau Khaeb National Park (TKNP).

“The global importance of this national park is greater than all the national parks in Germany, which would be the main recipients of green hydrogen produced in the TKNP,” said NCE CEO Chris Brown.

“The damage to integrity, biodiversity, landscape, sense of place, and future tourism will be immense, all in the interests of serving the relatively short-term energy needs of mainly Germany and some other parts of the EU.

“We don’t believe the people of Germany would allow the destruction of any of their national parks for energy production, and we ask them to tell their government it is morally wrong to offshore the environmental costs of their energy needs to Namibia.”

The NCE has published an 18-page position paper on the project, entitled When Green Hydrogen Turns Red – Threatening a global biodiversity hotspot – which argues that the TKNP is “arguably one of the most important arid protected areas in the world, and Namibia’s most biodiverse protected area” and that “its biodiversity value is unmatched and irreplaceable at the global level”.

There are 31 plant species in the park that occur nowhere else on earth, and it is a critical habitat to 251 terrestrial bird species, including 15 listed as “threatened” and ten as “near threatened”.

“The TKNP is larger than the combined area of Germany’s seven largest protected areas and of far more biodiversity value than these human-modified areas, none of which protect global biodiversity hotspots,” the paper states. “If an industrial development project were proposed in Germany that would effectively eliminate their seven largest protected areas, it would not be approved.”

It accuses the German government of undertaking no due diligence before “entering into a partnership with the Namibian government to publicly support hydrogen development plans in the TKNP”, adding: “This indecent haste is reflected in the lack of proper planning, strategic assessment, or thought given to environmental impacts and the lack of consideration for alternative hydrogen production options that would optimise socio-economic opportunities and development for Namibia.

“Since pushing species towards extinction is known as driving them ‘into the red’, this project is in reality producing ‘red hydrogen’. It is unlikely that the global market that is interested in tackling environmental issues such as climate change will have an appetite for ‘red hydrogen’, which exacerbates the global biodiversity crisis.”

The Hyphen project has been allocated a large swathe of park land for wind turbines, including wilderness areas “considered too ecologically sensitive for relatively eco-friendly tourism development”.

“If a large-scale industrial development is allowed to severely degrade and devalue Namibia’s most biodiverse national park, this precedent puts all other national parks at risk,” the paper adds.

The Namibian government is also criticised for taking a 24% equity stake in the project, creating a conflict of interest, as the necessary strategic environment assessment (SEA) and environment and social impact assessments (ESIAs) would be carried out by the government.

“It is therefore imperative than any SEA be conducted and thoroughly reviewed by independent experts… the whole process… must be conducted in a transparent and accountable manner without manipulation and interference.”

The government-appointed Green Hydrogen Commissioner, James Mnyupe, responded to the NCE paper by saying that the strategic environmental and social assessment will adopt a highly consultative approach, involving public and private sectors, NGOs (such as those making up the NCE) and civil society organisations.

The NCE added that many parts of the Kharas Region (which includes the TKNP) are “ideal for solar farms” that could power green hydrogen production and would benefit poverty-stricken communities that own drought-prone lands.

Last month, Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba inaugurated ten new 120-metre-tall weather-measurement masts at the project site.

Hyphen – a joint venture between German renewables developer Enertrag and international investment firm Nicholas Holdings – has already signed offtake memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Germany’s RWE (300,000 tonnes a year), South Korean industrial gases firm Approtium (250,000 tonnes), and an unnamed “major chemical company” (500,000 tonnes).

The developer has already secured €540m ($586m) from the EU’s financial arm, the European Investment Bank, and Dutch impact fund Invest International, towards financing its stake in the project and developing the domestic green hydrogen sector more broadly.

Not just the national park

Hyphen is also due to build desalination and ammonia plants and other infrastructure on a coastal peninsula called Angra Point which is recognised as a key biodiversity area for endangered sea birds, as well as whales and dolphins, and is currently a popular tourist destination.

“Areas near Elizabeth Bay, south of Angra Point, that have already been severely modified through long-term mining, and are therefore of lower biodiversity value, should be considered as a potential alternative location for the desalination and ammonia production infrastructure, and the export point,” said the NCE position paper.

“This option [which is actually closer to the main project site] has been ignored in order to justify a costly deep-sea port development wanted by Namport at Angra Point, and because of possible legal issues around mining licenses at Elizabeth Bay.

“The development of one large industrial project in ecologically sensitive areas will therefore set a precedent for development in other such areas.”