Norway, renowned for its substantial offshore oil and gas reserves, made a surprise move in 2021 to rebrand itself as an ocean champion. However, this environmental turn is being reversed as the government pursues commercial mining in the country’s extended seabed shelf along with new oil and gas exploration.
When it pledged to sustainably manage 100% of its coastal waters by 2025, Norway encouraged other nations to do the same, through a global initiative it co-chairs called the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. By 2022, 17 nations covering 46% of the world’s coastal waters had signed the pact.
Their ambition, to chart a course toward better ocean stewardship, was informed by a two-year scientific review from 250 global experts. The panel also sought advice from more than 135 organisations across industry, finance and civil society.
In a 2020 report, expert advisors to the panel concluded that certain activities, specifically oil and gas exploration and deep-sea mining, were “difficult to align with the definition of a sustainable ocean economy”. They encouraged huge investments in sustainable industries, such as carbon storage and renewable ocean-based energy production.
But, in a departure from this expert advice, Norway is pursuing a strategy of intensified seabed extraction for mineral, oil and gas reserves. In June, the nation approved new permits, worth US$18.5 billion, to expand offshore oil and gas drilling.
In the same month, it also proposed opening up 280,000 square kilometres of its seafloor – an area the size of Ireland and the UK combined – to deep-sea mining, a nascent industry with unknown and potentially disastrous impacts for marine ecosystems.
Six months later, the proposal to progress deep-sea mining was met with cross-party support in the parliament, making Norway the nation most likely to begin commercial extraction of rare metals from the ocean.
By mining these resources, the Norwegian government hopes to secure its own supply of the ores needed to build green energy technologies, such as EV batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.
In an email, Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said: “Seabed mineral activities must take place in a prudent and safe manner and in due consideration of the environment”.
But conservationists say that many of the earmarked sites contain vulnerable ecosystems and species that are likely to be negatively impacted by mining. Daniel Bengtsson for Greenpeace Nordic says that one area, close to Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic, is a well-known biodiversity hotspot. “This is an area where whales migrate, it’s a feeding ground for large marine mammals, it is important for seabirds”, he says. “There’s no doubt that these are sensitive areas”, says Bengtsson, adding that there’s also a growing concern that mining could impact the ocean’s ability to store carbon.
The Norwegian government is currently assessing the sites earmarked for mining to determine whether they contain vulnerable marine ecosystems, a term describing areas of seafloor covered in underwater forests formed by animals such as deep-sea sponges and cold-water corals.
Globally, opposition to deep-sea mining is also mounting. More than 750 scientists, from 44 countries, have voiced their concerns about the environmental impacts, which could include irreversible habitat loss, local extinctions and noise pollution. Sediment kicked up by mining could also enter the water column and negatively impact wildlife and commercial fisheries. At least 20 governments, including Brazil, Canada, the UK, France and Sweden, have called for a global pause in seabed mineral exploitation until further research is carried out, to assess the potential damage to marine life. Several large companies, including BMW, Google and Samsung, have vowed not to use materials sourced from deep-sea mining in their products.