Deep Sea Mining is a Risky Bet for Your Investment and the Planet
Economic Implications
Over 37 financial institutions with more than EUR 3.3 trillion in assets have signed a statement urging governments to protect the oceans saying “Deep Sea Mining must not go ahead until the environmental, social, and economic risks are comprehensively understood and alternatives to deep sea minerals have been explored fully,” noting that financial institutions could be exposed to significant policy, regulatory, and reputational risks otherwise.1
Numerous studies and reports have highlighted the economic folly of deep sea mining. Planet Tracker2 reports that DSM could result in over $500 billion in value destruction, including the destruction of habitats that could lead to natural capital losses of at least $465 billion and potential losses of $132 billion to the mining industry, emphasizing the significant environmental and financial risks associated with deep sea mining.
Additionally, an Ocean Foundation report3 highlights the high uncertainty surrounding metal prices and the potential irrelevance of deep-sea mining in a circular economy with next-generation battery technologies that don’t rely on deep-sea metals. The industry’s unrealistic financial models and disregard for these challenges raise red flags about its viability and sustainability.
Insurance Concerns
Major insurers, Hannover Re, Zurich Insurance Group, and Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), have joined prominent reinsurer Swiss Re to officially exclude deep sea mining (DSM) from their underwriting activities, raising red flags about the industry’s long-term viability.4
Legal Exposure
The current regulatory regime and framework are inadequate to address the environmental and social impacts of deep-sea mining.5
Dr. Sylvia Earle, Marine Biologist and Oceanographer
“Those marketing myths for short-term profit will cost civilization and ocean health permanent devastating loss. In ignorance of knowledge gained in recent decades, mining the deep sea may have seemed appealing. But a new understanding of alternative technologies, insights into the economic realities, the irreversible catastrophic impacts on ocean life, and the weight of moral liability imposed on this generation make further action to mine the deep sea absurdly irresponsible and just plain wrong.”
Victor Vescovo, Marine Explorer and Technologist
“Deep sea mining is really just strip-mining the seafloor. Financially, it’s a long-term bet that battery technology will not significantly shift away from using cobalt and nickel — even though it already is, and quite dramatically. It doesn’t make good financial sense to invest billions into an untested industry that eviscerates little-understood ecosystems just to add capacity in single-digit percentages to world metals production. Investors really need to exercise caution against falling for this poorly-veiled greenwashing narrative. Technically, economically, environmentally, and even legally, it’s not a sound, risk-adjusted investment.”
Severe Environmental Impact
The ocean supports all life on this planet, providing vital support for millions of people and safeguarding biodiversity against human pressures and climate change. Scientists,6 7 are warning that deep sea mining (DSM), could cause large-scale, severe, and irreversible harm to global ocean ecosystems on multi-generational timescales, worsening the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
Global Opposition and Calls for Caution
32 governments including Canada, France, Mexico, Chile, the United Kingdom, and Palau joined by parliamentarians, regional authorities and other elected officials and government bodies have called for a ban or moratorium on deep-sea mining. Civil society groups, and Indigenous groups from Hawai’i and the Pacific at large – whose lives and livelihoods rely on the ocean – have also echoed this call.8 Leading companies in the technological and automotive sectors, such as Google, Salesforce, Volkswagen, Volvo, Rivian, and more have committed to not using deep-sea minerals in their supply chains9 and have also called for a moratorium on the industry.
Leticia Carvalho, Brazilian Marine Scientist and newly elected Secretary General of the ISA
“…regulatory stability for businesses and society is really fundamental. If you don’t have stability, you then therefore have a cacophony and chaos because you open space for litigation at different levels…I would be very much concerned to have a mining exploitation request sat on my table without a mining code…particularly deep-sea mining as an activity has many players, meaning many courts would be called to have their say, not only in the international level but also at a national level.”10
Astrid Puentes, UN Special Rapporteur for the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment
“Deep-sea mining will perpetuate systematic inequalities. Indigenous peoples and people closer to the ocean will be first and worst affected… We cannot continue extracting everything…we have to think about how to repair and restore all ecosystems, including coastal ecosystems and oceans instead of increasing the damages humanity already has done.”11
Think twice before you invest! Your investment decisions can shape the future of our oceans and our planet.
1. https://www.financeforbiodiversity.org/wp-content/uploads/Global-Financial-Institutions-Statement-to-Governments-on-Deep-Seabed-Mining_FfB-Foundation_19July2023.pdf↩
2. https://www.mining.com/deep-sea-mining-could-cost-500-billion-in-lost-value-study-says/↩
3. https://oceanfdn.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/dsm-finance-brief-2024.pdf↩
4. https://dsm-campaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dsmc_release_insurers_against_dsm.pdf?link_id=↩
5. Pickens, Chris, Hannah Lily, Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb, Catherine Blanchard, and Anindita Chakraborty. “From What-if to What-now: Status of the Deep-sea Mining Regulations and Underlying Drivers for Outstanding Issues.” – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X23005006↩
6. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qMbZ0hjBAS051jQDIczbj_WIVaqj57gB/view?usp=sharing↩
7. https://seabedminingsciencestatement.org/↩
8. https://deep-sea-conservation.org/solutions/no-deep-sea-mining/momentum-for-a-moratorium/↩
9. https://www.stopdeepseabedmining.org/endorsers/↩
10. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/27/deep-sea-mining-isas-carvalho-plans-to-resolve-its-murky-future.html↩
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM4DUAUjAGI↩
