Major UK energy firm calls for deep sea mining moratorium as mining industry loses battle to start in 2023

Ecotricity has become the first UK energy supplier to call for a halt on deep sea mining – joining a growing coalition of big businesses including BMW, Renault and Google as well as 37 financial institutions, over 750 scientists and 21 governments around the world.

Paul Sands, Chief Growth Officer at Ecotricity, said: We’re pleased to join the call for a halt on deep sea mining – in a time when all the scientific evidence is telling us to stop oil and gas exploration to limit global warming, it also makes no logical sense to further damage the environment by ploughing ahead mining minerals from the seabed. In the energy industry, we know all too well the strict planning and regulations which go into our projects – but in the depths of the ocean, where so much of its vast expanse is still unexplored and fragile, we must not start extracting anything – and don’t need to.

The news comes in the final week of the three-week International Seabed Authority negotiations, during which the UK government has stood out as one of the most prominent voices pushing for an agreement to allow deep sea mining to start. But it also comes as decisions reached at the ISA confirm the mining industry lost its battle to force governments to give the greenlight for the industry to start this year.

Reacting to Ecotricity’s announcement, Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner Fiona Nicholls, said: “Ecotricity has taken a significant step by joining calls to halt this dangerous industry; it’s become a leading light for other energy companies to follow. In contrast, over the past three weeks we’ve seen exactly where the UK government’s priorities lie when it comes to ocean protection – they’re at rock bottom, in more ways than one.”

Alongside other pro-mining delegations including Norway and Mexico, as well as industry heavyweights such as Canadian firm The Metals Company, the UK has dominated discussions on how to complete the mining code – a set of regulations to govern deep sea mining – refusing to join growing calls for a moratorium on this dangerous industry.

Fiona continued: “It’s time the UK government stopped burying its head in the seabed and acted on the science. Rishi Sunak should be paying close attention to the growing list of businesses rejecting this industry as well as the growing list of governments calling for a halt. In times of such crises for climate and nature, deep sea mining is neither needed nor acceptable. A moratorium plus UK investment in emerging new battery technologies is the only justifiable and sensible way forward.”

As well as ruling out granting immediate permissions, the Council talks ended last week with an agreement to work towards a 2-year roadmap for the completion of the mining code – a decision that not only disappointed the industry, which pushed hard for completion of the rules this year, but that saw The Metals Company’s share price plummet as markets reacted to the news. Countries like Chile, Costa Rica, France, Palau and Vanuatu are still pushing to discuss a moratorium during the Assembly talks this week.