Norway's parliament gave the green light on Tuesday to opening up part of the country's seabed for mining, despite experts warning of uncertain impacts on ecosystems.
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By providing 280,000 km2 of its seabed – equivalent to half the area of France – Norway is one of the first countries in the world to introduce this controversial practice in an unexplored region.
The government's proposal was approved by 80 votes to 20. The possible use of these funds must be subject to renewed scrutiny by Parliament.
“All Norwegian scientific institutions say it is too risky. We don’t know enough about ecosystems to mitigate the (potential) damage,” Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle from the Norwegian Greenpeace department told AFP.
Non-governmental organizations and scientists warn about the destruction of habitats and species that are still unknown but may be crucial to the food chain, the risk of disrupting the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide emitted by human activities, or Noise affecting species like whales.
Several demonstrators gathered in front of Parliament to express their dissatisfaction.
“It's a shame because Norway runs the risk of setting a precedent” that would “allow other countries to do the same,” complained Frode Pleym, head of the Norwegian Greenpeace department and a participant in the demonstration.
At the beginning of December, the minority government coalition secured the support of the conservative party and the populist right to gradually develop an area of the Greenland Sea and the Barents Sea in the Arctic at the expense of stricter environmental regulations.
Norway therefore hopes to become a major global mineral producer, which the government says is necessary for the success of its energy transition.
Copper, zinc, cobalt…
“We need minerals (because) we need to drive a green transition in the form of solar cells and panels, electric cars and mobile phones,” Labor MP Marianne Sivertsen Naess said in December.
At the same time, the country wants to reduce its dependence on raw materials from other countries such as Russia and China – the world's leading producer of rare earths.
“Norway may in the future be able to contribute to having greater access without being dependent on countries on which it may not be desirable to be completely dependent,” she added.
According to estimates from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the country's continental shelf most likely contains significant deposits of minerals, including copper, cobalt, zinc and rare earths, which are useful in batteries, turbines, wind turbines, computers and other cell phones.
“Norway seems to have the idea that mining will be the solution to ecological transition, which is really strange,” said Greenpeace’s Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle.
On the contrary, more and more countries in the world prefer to move away from it and favor the precautionary principle on this issue due to the lack of sufficient data on the risks involved, argues the activist.
Several countries, including France and the United Kingdom, have called for a moratorium on underwater mining.
For its part, the government assures that no project will be implemented without prior detailed evaluation. The first measures must be approved by Parliament before they can be implemented.
The condition: This must be possible “sustainably and sensibly,” specified the conservative elected official in charge of the matter, Bård Ludvig Thorheim.