The Green Hydrogen Catalyst: Igniting Local Development through Green Trade Enablers

The document outlines a strategy for South Africa to develop its green hydrogen ecosystem by prioritizing trade-focused investments that deliver local benefits. It identifies critical hurdles, including inefficient ports and a lack of domestic electrolyser manufacturing, and proposes solutions such as 'green corridors' for marine fuels and regional certification standards. The brief emphasizes that social acceptance, particularly regarding water scarcity and community consultation, is essential for the sector's viability.

• South Africa possesses a significant competitive advantage in green hydrogen production, with estimates suggesting it could be the "second-lowest cost producer of green hydrogen globally", surpassed only by Chile.
• Inefficient port infrastructure is a primary barrier to export ambitions; ports in Gqeberha, Durban, and Cape Town ranked between 291 and 344 out of 348 globally in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index.
• There is a significant opportunity for South Africa to become a supplier of green shipping fuels, with demand from ships visiting its eight commercial ports estimated at 56,000 tonnes of hydrogen by 2030 and 530,000 tonnes by 2050.
• Regional cooperation with Namibia is critical, highlighted by a 2024 Memorandum of Understanding to explore a cross-border green hydrogen pipeline, which could be "Africa’s first cross-border hydrogen infrastructure".
• The domestic value chain lacks commercial production of fuel cells and electrolysers, creating a gap that requires international investment and a program to attract foreign manufacturers to create "domestic backward linkages".
• A lack of regional alignment on certification compliance is a major concern for off-takers; the brief suggests using the 2025 7th EU–AU summit to advance a "continent-to-continent agreement on green hydrogen certification".
• Social acceptance is threatened by concerns over water scarcity in production regions; the brief proposes that producers "oversize their desalination plants" to provide water to local utilities as a condition of their license to operate.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2025). The Green Hydrogen Catalyst: Igniting Local Development through Green Trade Enablers. https://saiia.org.za/research/the-green-hydrogen-catalyst-igniting-local-development-through-green-trade-enablers/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. The Green Hydrogen Catalyst: Igniting Local Development through Green Trade Enablers. 2025. https://saiia.org.za/research/the-green-hydrogen-catalyst-igniting-local-development-through-green-trade-enablers/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=The Green Hydrogen Catalyst: Igniting Local Development through Green Trade Enablers |date=12 May 2025 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/the-green-hydrogen-catalyst-igniting-local-development-through-green-trade-enablers/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2025green, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{The Green Hydrogen Catalyst: Igniting Local Development through Green Trade Enablers}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/the-green-hydrogen-catalyst-igniting-local-development-through-green-trade-enablers/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }