Deep at the bottom of the ocean lies an untouched world. It’s special, beautiful, and full of creatures that we haven’t even discovered yet.
But the deep sea harbors another uncovered secret: metal-enriched minerals necessary for the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
In this article, you will learn what deep-sea mining is, hear perspectives on whether it’s good or bad, and receive insights into greenwashing.
What is deep-sea mining?
Deep-sea mining is the process of removing precious metals and minerals from the seafloor. The mining process begins below 200 meters of water, in some of the most raw and untouched ecosystems left on Earth.
Precious metals and minerals like manganese, nickel, and cobalt-rich iron have built up on the seafloor over millions of years to produce potato-size polymetallic nodules. These nodules are mined on the slopes of seamounts, along mid-ocean ridges, and on the deep-sea floor.
These mineral rich deposits can be used in many modern-day electronics and also to support the climate transition. As electric cars become more mainstream, these minerals are needed mainly for electric batteries.
Since the 1960s, corporations and countries have been discussing mining the deep-sea floor. It’s been a highly debated topic, but hasn’t seen loads of action due to the lack of technological capability and engineering obstacles.
As of August 2023, planned talks on gaining the rights to deep-sea mining from the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) have been delayed until 2024. No additional rights have been granted to companies, yet. However, the discussion isn’t over. Environmentalists need to continue bringing awareness to the issue.
The fight continues for the deep sea.
Is deep-sea mining good or bad?
Whether deep-sea mining is good or bad is a controversial issue.
As we transition towards a more sustainable economy, metals like manganese, nickel, and cobalt-rich iron are becoming essential to manufacturing products like electric batteries. The argument from oil and automotive companies is that a need for these resources will increase (surpassing the current mineral supply found above water).
These industries also argue, as the deep-sea mining process is done with automated machinery, the current exploitation of human resources to mine on land will decrease. To me, it sounds like some good old greenwashing to ‘greenify’ their brands and create misleading narratives.
As Michael Norton, the EASAC Environment Director, says, “Deep-sea mining would not provide many of the critical materials needed for the green transition and other high-tech sectors. In addition, recycling rates can be vastly improved, and future technological innovation has not been adequately considered in forecasts.” Essentially, what he’s saying here is that many of the solutions to alternative critical materials already exist (and mining the deep-sea isn’t one of them).
Alternative solutions are available (or soon will be) that don’t involve mining the seabed.
Simply, deep-sea mining will have a long-term and lasting environmental impact on ocean environments.
- Mining contracts can last for 30 years, meaning that the impact of deep-sea mining will be felt for generations.
- The impact on biodiversity, as the nodes themselves are unique habitats, will disrupt many species, likely resulting in extinction. For example, the ghost octopus lays its eggs in these nodes.
- Mining the deep-sea floor is disruptive and will impact the food supply of several species. Greenpeace has already reported on how current mining trial runs are creating plumes of pollution in the Pacific.
- After mining, the contaminated water is discharged into the sea from a higher depth, resulting in pollution and damage to species in multiple water layers.
The deep-sea is also virtually unexplored. It’s one of the last untouched and exotic places on our blue planet. As humans, guardians of the Earth, isn’t it our responsibility to speak for the species that cannot speak for themselves?
Many of these arguments are for the biodiversity and ecosystems of the deep sea. But we must also acknowledge how we as humans are part of the circle. Millions of people depend on the ocean for their economic living and food supply.
When deep-sea mining impacts ocean life, it impacts human life.
Our oceans are pillars of climate change mitigation. The deep ocean absorbs and stores over 90% of the excess heat and around 38% of the carbon dioxide generated by humans. Simply, if it wasn’t for our oceans equalizing our unsustainable behavior, we’d already have been ‘burning’ long ago.
The greenwashing of deep-sea mining
The news stories around deep-sea mining accelerated in the summer of 2023.
The idea received a lot of press and social media coverage. Mainstream news attention is essential to getting citizens behind important environmental issues. But as we’ve seen with many other nature-related topics, greenwashing by corporations is a common tactic to shape perspectives and create confusing narratives.
If you’d like to learn more about greenwashing, here is my YouTube video on what greenwashing is and how to avoid it.
The Metals Company, one of the largest corporations seeking a deep-sea mining contract, argues that climate change threatens our oceans and our number one priority is to achieve net-zero emissions. (One could also argue the greenwashing verbiage of net-zero claims.)
They believe to achieve net-zero, compromise will be necessary.
And more recently, The Metals Company confirmed their commitment to capitalism and profit over people and the planet. The company publicly announced its intention to continue with their production schedule in the Pacific Ocean in 2025, despite the current lack of permission from the ISA.
This tells us that they believe that they will have enough political influence to change the current narrative and sway decision makers when the topic comes back to the table.
And this is why it’s important to continue bringing awareness to the topic.
Common greenwashing tactics for pro deep-sea mining
As marketers, it’s part of our responsibility to spot greenwashing, challenge it, and also prevent it.
In the case of companies similar to and including The Metals Company, they used greenwashing tactics to benefit their corporate interests. We can step up as marketers to call out this greenwashing.
- Misleading phrases — If a company is receiving bad PR for using specific wording, it’s a common tactic to soften that narrative and use new alternative wording. In this case, the word “mining” has been used enough by activist groups to become negative. Therefore, many mining companies have changed the wording of their campaigns to say “collecting”. They’re “collecting” instead of “mining’, which is a misleading use of what the term actually implies in action.
- Positive branding — In the Cook Islands, a seabed mining company with an exploration license launched a naming campaign for their new boat. They partnered with school children to name the exploration vehicle, with a large cash prize for the school and an iPad Pro for the winning student.
Other common phrases used in similar greenwashing campaigns include “ecologically sustainable development” and “preserve and protect”.
Greenpeace has reported on a greenwashing campaign by DeepGreen, another deep-sea mining company, where the CEO and company used phrases like “ocean science is the core business of our humble startup”; “share the same goal: a clean energy future”; and “deep-sea mining is a good alternative to land-based mining” to create confusing narratives around the impacts of deep-sea mining.
Is it our right as humans to exploit every square inch of the planet? To preserve the ocean and the life in it, we NEED people to connect emotionally to the topic.
Building a cleaner, greener, and more just world doesn’t begin with exploiting more of Earth’s natural resources. Is it our right to exploit the ocean? In my opinion, marketers could use the elevated media attention on this event to create emotional connections to the deep sea. These connections are essential to inspiring collective action amongst stakeholders, companies, and citizens.
The deep sea needs our support, and this is how we as marketers can help.
