Strategic coupling beyond borders: Germany’s extraterritorial agency in Namibia’s green hydrogen industry

Abstract Amidst increasing geopolitical threats, geo-economic competition, and climate change concerns, this article reflects on why and how states alter strategic coupling processes abroad. Scrutinizing Germany’s involvement in Namibia’s green hydrogen industry, we conceptualize the decarbonization rationale as a state project that drives extraterritorial agency. Extraterritorial institutions accompany private enterprises with public institutional support, thus leading to three mechanisms through which extraterritorial agency shapes strategic coupling dynamics abroad: extraterritorial de-risking, extraterritorial asset creation, and market creation. We show that, even in liberal and coordinated market economies, states develop extraterritorial strategies to align global production networks with their strategic goals.