All they need now is a set of internationally agreed operating rules. They already have exploration permits for an expanse of international seabed as large as France and Germany combined, an area that is likely to expand rapidly. If the world wants to decarbonise and reach net-zero emissions by 2050, they say we must start extracting the resources for car batteries and wind turbines soon. They say the minerals – copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese – are essential for a green transition. Mining companies also insist on urgency – to start exploration. We need an urgent deep-sea mining moratorium to protect the oceans.” “They simply cannot allow these reckless companies to rush headlong into a race to the bottom, where little-known ecosystems will be ploughed up for profit, and the risks and liabilities will be pushed on to small island nations. “This is now a test of governments who claim to want to protect the oceans,” she said. Given the potential risks of fisheries disturbance, water contamination, sound pollution and habitat destruction for dumbo octopuses, sea pangolins and other species, she says no new licences should be approved. Louisa Casson, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace International, says the two-year deadline is “really dangerous”. A dumbo octopus, just one of millions of barely understood deep-sea species at risk from mining.
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