Norway will put a pause on its plans for deep seabed mining, according to reports by several news agencies. A small minority party managed to, at least temporarily, stop the country’s plans to issue its first licenses in 2025 in exchange for supporting the majority party’s budget.
The country’s parliament passed a resolution in January to begin exploring the deep sea within its jurisdiction for minerals. One of the arguments for deep sea mining is that the materials are necessary for the green transition. Norway has the greatest number of electric cars per capita; however the country is also boosting oil and gas drilling.
Since Norway’s parliament approved deep sea mining, many have voiced opposition including the European Parliament which called for a moratorium on deep seabed mining; the Nordic Council, which asked Norway and Iceland to back a moratorium on deep sea mining; and the World Wildlife Fund which sued the Norwegian government over its mining plans.
More than 700 scientists have signed a document asking for a pause on deep sea mining because we know so little about the deep ocean, how its ecosystems work, and what the impact of mining would be. Recently it was discovered that the manganese nodules that mining companies covet as the most desirable metal deposits seem to be working together to create oxygen in the deep ocean where scientists did not believe oxygen production was possible.
