The Alliance extractive industries program hosted a webinar on Deep Sea Mining (DSM). This is a rapidly evolving area of extractives which promises an alluring new supply of minerals -- including those critical to the low carbon energy transition -- but also brings with it environmental risks that are not yet fully understood. Professor Saleem Ali of University of Delaware spoke about demand projections for critical metals and how DSM can help meet these needs; the environmental and social risks of DSM compared with terrestrial mining; the International Seabed Authority’s regulatory role; cost and liability considerations; and activism around the sector and how responsible investors should respond based on existing science. 

We will also be joined by Matthew Gianni of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, an organization that is opposed to deep sea mining, for another perspective on the risks. 

Dr. Ali is a Member of the United Nations International Resource Panel and serves as a scientific advisor to DeepGreen, the Canadian company focused on extracting battery minerals from the deep seabed. For more background on deep sea mining, see Dr. Ali's article on this topic as well as the DSCC's backgrounder. 

See a detailed summary of this webinar here.

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