Imperial hydrogen -Trading the Land Ecological unequal exchange between Namibia and Germany
Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Climate change is escalating. In the search for alternatives to fossil fuels, many countries are pushing green hydrogen as an energy vector. The development of a hydrogen economy is planned, and social and ecological consequences are at risk of being neglected. Namibia has excellent conditions for renewables and plans to be a major exporter of green hydrogen. Germany is set to import green hydrogen while exporting technologies to produce the green hydrogen. To investigate the material consequences of the trade of hydrogen, especially embodied land, the thesis investigates at the first large-scale hydrogen project in Namibia, developed by Hyphen Energy. In a scenario where Namibia is exporting hydrogen to Germany while wind turbines and electrolyzer technologies are traded from Germany to Namibia, I am analyzing the ecological unequal exchange occurring from this trade. This is done by using a life cycle assessment-based approach to calculating ecologically unequal exchange. These insights which reveal the consequences of this trade are further discussed from a radical environmental justice perspective. The concept is used to discuss if it can lead to argumentation that limits ecologically unequal exchange. The findings show that a future green hydrogen trade will probably include a significant unequal exchange of embodied land. Radical environmental justice applied to this case could change power structures which again could lead to less ecologically unequal exchange.
Author: Orbach, Tristan
Institution: Lund University
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7029200183