During the Council meeting, ISA Member States will continue negotiations on a consolidated text (draft regulations for a Mining Code), picking up where States left off in March 2024, amid growing divergent viewpoints between delegations. At the Assembly, there will be an election for the Secretary-General of the ISA and potentially, for the first time in the ISA’s history, a discussion on the need for a General Policy on the protection and preservation of the marine environment – a similar discussion was blocked for the entire Assembly meeting last year.
At the same time, The Metals Company, through the 2-year legal loophole (explained below), is threatening to submit a mining application after the ISA meeting concludes, in the absence of rules and regulations – an issue that demonstrates how The Metals Company is disregarding growing political opposition.
An increasing number of governments (27) recognise that the only way to prevent irreversible damage to our critical and fragile deep ocean is to support a moratorium.
Background
Deep sea mining is the practice of mining metals and minerals from the deep seabed. It has not started anywhere yet.
So far, the ISA has granted 31 deep sea mining exploration contracts covering a total of over 1.5 million km² (579,153 mi²) of the world’s seabed – an area four times the size of Germany.
17 of these contracts cover exploration in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), an area in the equatorial Pacific between Hawaii and México. These contracts do not allow companies to mine, but to explore and test-mine with a view to submitting an application for exploitation, which is what frontrunner The Metals Company has already announced it plans to do this year.
Mounting scientific evidence has concluded that if deep sea mining is allowed to go ahead, vast areas of the ocean floor will be stripped bare, destroying habitats, damaging marine life and unique ecosystems beyond repair as well as disrupting carbon cycles. The associated noise and pollution, including toxic particles dumped in shallower waters, would also disrupt marine life all the way up the water column.
The Natural History Museum published evidence showing the Clarion-Clipperton Zone supports upwards of 5,000 species yet to be recorded or studied.
The ISA Council is made up of 36 countries. This is where negotiations on the ‘mining code’ and the debate about the ‘two year rule’ are taking place.
- The ‘mining code’ is a set of rules, regulations and procedures, including standards and guidelines, that would regulate (and, if agreed, allow) commercial deep sea mining.
- The ‘two-year rule’ is an obscure provision in the Law of the Sea Convention which, if triggered, allows a State to submit for approval a ‘plan of work’ for full-scale commercial mining even if the mining code has not been adopted 2 years after the provision has been triggered. The Metals Company is sponsored by Nauru, who triggered this controversial loophole in June 2021. While this put pressure on the ISA Council to finalise the mining code by July 2023, governments withstood this and negotiations continue, while the Council has officially stated its opposition to mining starting in the absence of any rules.
The ISA Assembly comprises 167 member states + the European Union. This is the group that could decide and implement a moratorium next year.
To date, more than 800 scientists, governments from Europe to the Pacific and businesses including Google, BMW, Volvo and Renault are all calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause.
Objections have also been raised by Indigenous Peoples in the Pacific whose lives and livelihoods rely on the ocean.
Greenpeace quote
“Pushing for regulations is like they are telling us ‘We know we will destroy the last pristine ecosystem of earth, but we will do it by the book’. Heavy machines don’t belong at the bottom of the ocean. The mining companies are impatient to get started. This has led to desperate attempts to get rules in place so they have a justification for destruction”, said Greenpeace Stop Deep Sea Mining campaigner Louisa Casson
Why is this meeting crucial?
Secretary General election
Friday 2 August is set to be the date when delegates will vote for the next Secretary General of the ISA. In 2020 the ISA held its last vote but couldn’t meet due to Covid-19 restrictions and Lodge was re-elected by ‘silence procedure’ – this meant that if no government raised an objection within 3 days of receiving notification, it was passed and it did. Nominated by Kiribati this time, Michael Lodge will attempt to be reelected as Secretary General for his third term (he was previously nominated by the UK twice). Marine scientist and international diplomat Leticia Carvalho was nominated as the alternative candidate by her country, Brazil. More candidates could still be nominated. The list of candidates that the Assembly will consider will be decided on the last day of the Council meeting, 26 July.
“Teburoro Tito, the Kiribati ambassador who urged Ms. Carvalho to leave the race, confirmed the job offer in an interview with The New York Times. He added that Mr. Lodge had signed off on the proposed deal as part of strategy to assure Mr. Lodge’s re-election at the next meeting of the Seabed Authority in late July and early August at its headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica.”
Mr. Lodge has travelled since January to China, Cameroon, Japan, Egypt, Italy and the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, among other stops — visits Mr. Lodge and his staff have described as educational and outreach missions, but which his critics consider improper.
“He’s clearly campaigning — using the machine of the Seabed Authority as part of his campaign,” Ms. Carvalho said.
The German government, which supports Ms. Carvalho’s election, has announced plans to ask for an investigation of what it considers questionable financial activities at the Seabed Authority, emails obtained by The New York Times show.
Why Greenpeace believes Michael Lodge’s track record requires a change of Secretary General
Lodge has demonstrated a pattern of behaviour not befitting of high office or UN standards. Concerns have been raised over the disclosure of resource data with The Metals Company to advance commercial interests, financial mismanagement and poor workplace culture, and a lack of transparency and support for media and civil society participation.
- Diplomats have accused Michael Lodge of pushing for an accelerated start of deep sea mining.
- The ISA has allegedly given The Metals Company privileged access to data that helped them get licenses.
- Under his mandate, no exploratory mining application has ever been rejected (the ISA gets US$500,000 money for each application).
- Under Lodge’s leadership, the ISA Secretariat’s administrative expenses have exceeded the budget (barring 2020 and 2021 travel and meeting disruptions from Covid-19). Nearly half of ISA’s funding is now from private sources, as deep sea mining contractor payments to ISA have increased 300% since 2016.
- Lodge has previously featured in the leading DSM company’s promotional video, appearing on an industry ship wearing DeepGreen’s company-branded hardhat. DeepGreen later merged to become The Metals Company.
- He has publicly said that deep sea mining seems to be inevitable.
- He has called a moratorium on deep sea mining “anti-science”.
- He has attempted to stop other international bodies from having a say on DSM. A member of the Conservation of Migratory Species Secretariat was quoted as saying: “We get letters like this all the time but from industrial lobbyists—not the Executive Secretary of a UN body.”
- The LA Times reported on poor workplace culture within the ISA Secretariat, reporting, “The staff is dispirited to the point that a management consultant in 2018 summarised the ISA in an internal email as “an unpleasant (and often toxic) place to be.” The consultant returned in 2019 to report that morale had dropped further.”
- He has attempted to silence dissent by banning journalists from chambers at the ISA and trying to stop a Greenpeace protest at sea – gathering criticism from governments and UN human rights experts.
- Lodge’s behaviour has even called the attention of John Oliver’s successful show Last Week Tonight, who called him “a cheerleader of the industry” and reminded how he has threatened to sue journalists for saying that.
Greenpeace quote
“A third term for Michael Lodge would not only put the oceans under threat, it risks further damaging public trust in the regulator, as the person in charge of guarding the seabed has repeatedly demonstrated an inappropriately close relationship to the industry that plans to destroy it for profit. It is time for change at the ISA, starting by putting conservation at the heart of its work”, said Greenpeace Stop Deep Sea Mining campaigner Louisa Casson, who is attending the meeting.
The ISA continuously champions gender equality and balance and Lodge has repeatedly presented himself as a “gender champion”. However, the ISA is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and has never had a female Secretary-General yet. In terms of geographical representation, the former Secretary-Generals have been from the Pacific and Africa, with the current Secretary-General being from Europe. For a regulator representing the common heritage of humankind, it’s important that diversity is demonstrated in leadership. Having a third term for a European male candidate would undermine this.
What about a moratorium?
A pause or moratorium could be implemented through the adoption of a ‘general policy’ at the Assembly, in collaboration with the Council. Legal experts have identified a general policy as the best legal avenue to implement a moratorium.
Greenpeace quote
“Millions of people around the world are demanding a stop to deep sea mining. Every day more and more scientific evidence confirms that the only solution to the question of deep sea mining is a moratorium. When it comes to the global commons, Governments at the ISA must not dance to the tune of the industry and approve rushed regulations for the benefit of a few”, said Greenpeace Stop Deep Sea Mining campaigner Louisa Casson. “The more we know about deep sea mining, the harder it is to justify it.
The UK
The ISA meeting will be the first major international environmental negotiation to take place after the election. There will be a debate on the adoption of a General Policy on protecting the marine environment, which could pave the way for a future global moratorium on deep sea mining. The government should support a strong General Policy and build on its existing support for a precautionary pause on deep sea mining to position itself as one of the strongest international voices advancing a moratorium.
Greenpeace UK quote
Briony Venn, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said:
“The deep sea is a treasure trove of biodiversity. It is also one of our best defences against climate change. But deep sea mining is looming and we don’t have long to stop this threat. Deep sea mining companies and their supporters are using every trick in the book to push for permission to plunder ocean ecosystems for metals.
“Imagine if we could go back in time and stop offshore drilling at the dawn of the oil age and prevent environmental and climate catastrophes. This is the scale of the opportunity governments have now, and the UK should position itself as one of the strongest voices to stop a new extractive industry before it starts. Labour led the way by backing a pause on deep sea mining a year ago, now in government it must speak out on the world stage against this destructive industry.”
More key dates
Wednesday, 31 July Proposal for a general policy of the Authority for the protection and preservation of the marine environment.
Friday, August 2 morning is set aside to hold the SG election vote.
The majority of the time in the first 2 weeks will be for Mining Code negotiations. Under the mandate of Michael Lodge and with the support of a few pro-mining countries, the ISA Council is now meeting three times a year in an attempt to rush these negotiations. This is in contrast with demands from scientists, civil society, indigenous groups and the growing number of countries supporting a moratorium, who demand time to reflect carefully about the future of the deep ocean.
Full agenda here
Contact: Alex Sedgwick, Greenpeace UK press officer, alexandra.sedgwick@greenpeace.org, 07973 873 155
