Namibia president says country has opportunity to lead discourse of combatting climate change globally

WINDHOEK, Nov. 18 — Namibia’s President Hage Geingob on Wednesday said the country has a unique opportunity to lead the discourse on combatting climate change globally as well as reap the substantial economic rewards that come with it.
While giving a briefing on his trip to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, Geingob said these ambitions are matched by the highest levels of political commitment domestically.
“As the most vulnerable country in Sub-Sahara Africa to climate change, adaptation is a priority in our updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). But clearly given our natural endowment for renewable energy, we need to do more to reduce our own emissions which are a mere 0.003 percent of global emissions. We are not the main culprits when it comes to warming the earth’s atmosphere, but we suffer the consequences, nonetheless,” he said.
This is why I have explicitly included the development of a green and blue economy, as well as a green hydrogen industry, as cornerstones of the Second Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP-II), Geingob said.
While at the conference, Namibia announced the winner of the Green Hydrogen project which will see the country aiming to generate about 5 gigawatts of renewable energy.
According to Geingob, the announcement signaled Namibia’s commitment to accelerating the development of green hydrogen that could be used to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors regionally and globally.   (Xinhua)