01/12/2024

Norway’s Deep-sea Mining Decision Is a Warning

Some say it's a boon, others say it's environmentally unsound

This week, the Norwegian Parliament voted to allow companies to scour its territorial waters for mining opportunities. The decision is a historic event: While some exploration has taken place in international waters in the Pacific, Norway is the first country to open its continental shelf up to deep-sea mining. Environmental advocates say it will lead to irreparable harm to oceanic biodiversity.

The parliamentary decision, which passed with a large majority, will not only rattle the usually undisturbed creatures of the deep ocean—many of which are still unknown to science—but could affect wider maritime ecosystems and jurisdictions for decades to come.

Norway’s government argues that deep-sea mining is crucial for the world’s energy transition, as it could dramatically increase the supply of critical minerals needed for the shift toward electrification, such as cobalt and copper. Environmentalists say this argument is greenwashing, because deep-sea mining would be not only extractive and unsustainable, but would take attention away from recycling existing available minerals.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.