Norway’s parliament strikes deal backing deep-sea mining in the Arctic Ocean

Norway’s minority government made a deal with two large opposition parties on Tuesday, December 5, to open seabed mineral exploration in the Arctic Ocean, despite heavy opposition.

The amended version that the parties agreed upon is an alternate version of the government’s original proposal and is scheduled to be formally debated and voted on by the lawmakers on January 4.

So far, there have been mixed feelings about the deal. On the one hand, member of the parliament for the Conservatives, Baard Ludvig Thorheim, told Reuters that the amended proposal sets the environmental bar very high for deep-sea mining, and they hope it will become the international standard for this activity.

It is worth noting at this point that the existence of rather large metal deposits has been identified in the oceans, which could be used in the green energy transition, but the effects this would have on sensitive aquatic ecosystems remains greatly unexplored.

The proposal was also welcomed by seabed mining companies, and the country’s offshore oil and gas industry, which stated that deep-sea mining could provide an alternative for future lost jobs as the field is phasing out.

Moreover, if the proposal gains final approval by the parliament, initial deep-sea exploration will commence in a 280,000 km² area of the Arctic, which exceeds the total area of the United Kingdom.

Following this exploration, the parliament will give its final verdict regarding commercial scale deep-sea mining at a later date, based on the findings.

As for the opposition, several parties have expressed their disapproval of this deal.

Head of Greenpeace Norway, Frode Pleym, said that mining would take place in our last wilderness as well as that this is a “disaster for the sea”. He also said that “We do not know what consequences this will have for the ecosystems in the sea, for endangered species such as whales and seabirds, or for the fish stocks on which we base our livelihood”.

Chief executive of wildlife campaign group WWF Norway, Karoline Andaur, said “This is the biggest disgrace in Norway’s management of the oceans in modern times, and the final nail in the coffin for Norway’s reputation as a responsible maritime nation”.

On top of these, the European Union, Russia, and the UK dispute Norway’s exclusive mining rights in this area.

Finally, the Norwegian and UK fishing industries have opposed the proposal, while even Norway’s very own environmental agency has done so, due to what they quoted as “significant and irreversible consequences for the marine environment” that it might have.