Norway’s parliament gives green light for controversial deep-sea mining

Norwegian lawmakers greenlighted deep-sea mining exploration around the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard on Tuesday (9 January), a world first that has raised concerns among environmental groups.

Read the original French article here.

In a vote in the national parliament on Tuesday, MPs gave the green light for deep-sea mining exploration in an area of 281,200 square kilometres around the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

The aim is to pave the way for the commercial exploitation of minerals that are abundant on the North Atlantic shelf.

These include copper, manganese, cobalt and lithium – raw materials that the EU has designated as being of strategic importance as they are deemed a prerequisite for the green and digital transition.

These same critical minerals are currently primarily mined in a handful of countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, China, and Russia. Amid increasingly volatile supply chains, securing access to them has become a priority for Western countries.

In the Critical Raw Materials Act that the EU passed last December, these raw materials were three of only 16 minerals that made it on the top priority list of strategic raw materials.

Experts: Stockpiling may be EU’s blind spot in critical raw materials debate

China’s decision on Friday (20 October) to curb graphite exports raised the question of creating new EU strategic stocks of critical raw materials, a question that has so far been largely overlooked by Brussels.

“A day of shame for Norway”

Before the vote on Tuesday, international activists and environmental organisations gathered before Norway’s parliament to pressure MPs with the slogan “stop deep sea mining”.

Opponents of deep-sea mining point to the ‘irreversible’ impact it could have on one of the last ecosystems untouched by human activity.

“This decision irreparably damages Norway’s reputation as a responsible ocean state,” Steve Trent, CEO and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said after the vote.

“We know little about the deep seabed, but we know enough to be certain that its exploitation will lead to the disappearance of unique fauna and flora and destroy the world’s largest carbon reservoir,” he continued in a press release.

“This decision will remain a dark chapter in the history of what was once a proud port nation”, WWF in Norway said on X, describing the day of the vote as a “day of shame for Norway”.

On 9 November, around 100 EU MEPs called on their Norwegian counterparts to oppose the government’s proposal, using the expertise of “more than 700 scientific experts”, including the European Science Academies Advisory Council (EASAC) – which in June warned of “disastrous consequences for marine ecosystems”.

The campaigners also point to an opinion from the Norwegian Environmental Authority calling the environmental impact assessments of these practices “inadequate”. This activity “cannot be carried out in a safe or responsible manner”, it argued.

Norway reluctant to ban deep sea mining in the Arctic, despite French pressure

Thirty-one countries have pledged to stop all deep-sea mining in the polar regions at the One Planet Polar Summit, which ended in Paris on Friday (10 November), in a deal that Norway has not yet signed amid criticism of its recent decision to allow Arctic mining.

A step-by-step approach

For the Norwegian government, as well as the Conservative and Liberal parties who tipped the balance in favour of Tuesday’s vote, this is an opportunity to accelerate the energy transition by securing rare earths for the needs of green technologies.

In an interview with US media outlet Cipher last September, the Norwegian Prime Minister and the man behind the project, Jonas Gahr Støre, described these minerals as “an essential element of industrial transformation”.

This could also be hugely profitable for the British industry, with The Telegraph estimating that it could generate profits worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

However, things need to be done “step by step”, Conservative Norwegian MP Bård Ludvig Thorheim warned in Altinget at the beginning of December.

“Extraction will not be allowed until future knowledge shows that it can be done in a sustainable and responsible way,” he stressed, insisting that the government must rely on impact studies before granting any licence.

Interviewed by the BBC, Walter Sognnes, co-founder of the Norwegian mining company Loke Minerals – which is eagerly awaiting authorisation – said there would be “a relatively long period of exploration and mapping activity to fill in the gaps in knowledge about the environmental impact”.

Proponents of the project point to the country’s promise of independence in strategic minerals and its desire to control the industry in terms of environmental and labour rights.

France prepares major mining inventory in push for critical raw materials

Following the EU’s recent push for greater autonomy on critical minerals, France has begun preparations for a “major mining inventory” to explore the resources of its subsoil – though experts urge that time is of the essence.

24  countries demand moratorium

But Norway’s deep-sea exploration plans do not thrill everyone as an increasing number of countries are refusing to get involved in the name of the precautionary principle.

France, the only country besides the UK to have voiced its opposition to Norway’s deep-sea mining, reiterated this at the One Planet-Polar summit in Paris in early November.

Today, 24 countries are calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, though some countries, like Norway, China, India and Russia, oppose such calls.

On the EU institutions’ side, the European Commission has expressed concern about the environmental impact of these projects.

In a resolution adopted by the European Parliament in 2022, MEPs called on the Commission and the member states to support an international moratorium.

The International Seabed Authority, a UN-affiliated organisation that regulates these activities in international waters, is due to meet this year.

But pressure is mounting to open up exploitation rights, with a vote on the first mining code, pushed for by Norway, expected as early as 2025.

[Edited by Oliver Noyan/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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