Deep seabed mining for minerals used in car batteries and other green technologies should not be permitted in Europe until there is sufficient knowledge on the environmental impact it may cause, said the Portuguese minister of maritime affairs. “We cannot proceed without proper knowledge and good technology,” said Ricardo Serrão Santos, who spoke at an online event last Friday (25 June). “We know that we have strong issues for certain environmental impacts of seabed mining,” Santos said at the event, which was organised by the Portuguese EU Presidency and the Mission of Norway to the EU. “There will be no seabed mining without biodiversity loss for sure,” Santos warned.
In September last year, the European Commission launched an action plan on critical raw materials, with the aim of strengthening the EU’s “strategic autonomy” on metals such as rare earths, which are used in applications ranging from electric car batteries to wind turbines and smart phones. Deep seabed mining is not currently allowed in international waters, but a growing number of countries are looking into it as a chance to retrieve deposits of minerals needed for green technologies such as electric car batteries. Proponents of deep-sea mining say the extraordinary richness of the underwater ores would result in far lower environmental impacts than mining on land. “Mining deep-sea polymetallic nodules is indeed calculated to release less CO2 per kilogram than mining on land,” says a report commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
Around the world, more and more countries are looking at deep sea mining as an economic development opportunity. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, private mining companies must be sponsored by a state in order to do seabed mining.
Source: EurActiv
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