Our researcher Henryk Joost recently published an article titled “Global Justice in the Hydrogen Economy: A Dependency-Theoretical Perspective on the Namibian Hydrogen Economy at the Intersection of Decarbonization, Development, and Dependency” in Forum Humangeographie.

The article examines Namibian-German hydrogen relations using the theoretical tools of dependency theory and research on extractivism. It discusses how the partnership between Germany and Namibia—in a context of economic imbalance and neocolonial structures—is taking shape and analyzes the distribution of social, economic, and environmental risks in the cross-border hydrogen economy. An analysis of existing hydrogen projects, policy strategies, and transnational agreements shows that Namibia bears significant ecological, economic, and social risks in this endeavor. Future profits from the hydrogen economy remain a risky bet on the future for Namibia. Last but not least, the publication aims to identify points of connection for dependency theories, which have received little attention in relation to this subject to date.
The article is available as open access: https://doi.org/10.21248/gups.90928.