The Green Climate Fund has approved $140 million for industrial decarbonisation in Namibia and South Africa. The funding is part of a larger programme that targets $1.2 billion in total investment.
The financing was announced on 28 October 2026. It will allocate $84 million to South Africa’s SA-H2 Fund and $56 million to Namibia’s SDG Namibia One Fund. Of the Namibia allocation, $15 million is for project development and $41 million is for construction equity.
The programme will be managed through Climate Fund Managers’ Climate Investor Three platform. It aims to finance 30 to 40 projects, and these will cover renewable energy, green hydrogen, green ammonia and low-carbon manufacturing. The GCF will provide risk-absorbing capital, and this is intended to attract private investors who are reluctant to fund projects during development and construction.
The approval builds on existing commitments and project pipelines in both countries. South Africa’s SA-H2 Fund raised ZAR3 billion ($182 million) at its first close in August. Meanwhile, Namibia’s SDG Namibia One has signed development funding deals for several projects, including Hyphen’s green hydrogen project, HyIron’s Oshivela green iron facility, Zhero Molecules’ Walvis Bay green ammonia project and the Dâures green fertiliser initiative.
In addition, Climate Investor Three has secured €150 million in initial development funding from Invest International and the European Commission. However, the full $1.2 billion target has not yet been raised and the new GCF-backed programme is yet to begin implementation.
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) will oversee the GCF financing. The programme targets 1.52 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity and an estimated 24.2 million tonnes of avoided emissions.