Norway Shelves Plans for Commercial-Scale Deep-Sea Mining
Norway’s government has shelved plans to open a vast ocean area at the bottom of the Arctic for commercial-scale deep-sea mining, a move welcomed by environmental campaigners as a “huge win” and “monumental victory for the ocean.” The decision was confirmed late Sunday, just days after the country’s Socialist Left Party said it would not support the government’s budget unless the initial licensing round for mineral activities was dropped.
The agreement comes after Norway’s Parliament voted in January to open an expansive area of the Arctic for the exploration of deep-sea mining. The country’s government had planned to start the first licensing round in the first half of next year, with the aim of granting the first exploitation licenses early next year. However, the postponement means the licensing round will not take place until the end of next year.
Deep-sea mining involves using heavy machinery to remove minerals and metals from the seabed, where they build up as potato-sized nodules. The end-use of these minerals is wide-ranging and includes electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels. However, scientists have warned that the full environmental impacts of deep-sea mining are hard to predict, and environmental campaign groups say the practice cannot be done sustainably and will inevitably lead to ecosystem destruction and species extinction.
Norway’s move has been met with opposition from other countries, including Germany, Britain, Canada, and Mexico, which have called for a halt to deep-sea mining amid environmental concerns.