Banner on Inflatable a Day before Arrival in Kingston. © Martin Katz / Greenpeace

Stop deep sea mining

Deep sea mining is a destructive, extractive industry that is on course to cause irreversible impacts on ecosystems. Why would governments open up a new frontier in the ocean — and who is pushing them to do so?

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A destructive industry

The global Greenpeace network is working to prevent a new destructive extractive industry from ever getting started in the oceans. Our position: no deep sea mining, not ever! To achieve that, we are joining Pacific Island communities, champion nations, environmentally concerned companies, and dozens of allied organizations across the globe in calling for a UN moratorium on deep sea mining.

In a planetary emergency, why would governments open up a new frontier for mining in the ocean — and who is pushing them to do so? Greenpeace is working to prevent this potentially catastrophic, extractive industry from ever getting started in the oceans.

Sperm Whales Up Close Underwater in Indian Ocean, Western Australia. © Alex Westover
Deep Sea Fish & Ecosystem - Animation Render. © Greenpeace

What is Deep Sea Mining?

Deep sea mining is a new, highly-destructive extractive industry that is eager to start in our global oceans. Mining companies like, The Metals Company, Impossible Metals, GSR, and SeaX are seeking to profit by launching harmful and controversial mining methods on the planet’s deep seabeds aimed at extracting minerals such as nickel and cobalt from over 400 meters depth into the ocean, and falsely claiming it essential to U.S. national security and the world’s clean energy transition.

We now face a once in a generation opportunity to stop a new extractive industry from gaining a foothold and ravaging one of our last biodiverse boundaries: the precious ecosystems of the ocean’s floor. We can defend this boundary by demanding that government policy makers, forward-thinking clean transportation, and tech companies take a stand.

The creatures of the deep

We know more about the surface of Mars and the moon than about the deep ocean. From underwater mountains providing oases for sea creatures to towering spires resembling sunken cities, the deep ocean is full of mysteries. As the largest habitable space on Earth, the deep ocean is home to ancient coral reefs sustaining the oldest known lifeforms, trenches deep enough to hold Mount Everest, and mysterious animals that can live for hundreds of years. Scientists discover new species on practically every voyage down to the depths.

A new, highly-destructive industry is on the cusp of further harming the oceans: deep sea mining. We need to stop this madness before it starts.

This unique, living world is under threat from the incipient deep sea mining industry. Deep sea mining risks inevitable, severe, and irreversible environmental damage to our oceans and marine life. Right now, we are at a crucial moment in history. Governments and corporations have been granted licenses to explore for deep sea mining in ecologically sensitive waters, and the industry is positioning its development as essential and inevitable, despite new technological developments that make the minerals they want to mine more obsolete than critical for future electric vehicles and battery needs. But if the industry receives a green light to begin commercial mining we know the floodgates will open to countless companies seeking to profit regardless of the irreversible destruction to the world’s oceans. 

Lion’s Mane Jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) in the Arctic. © Solvin Zankl / Greenpeace

Can we stop deep sea mining?

Commercial deep sea mining has never been approved under international law, and nations have yet to agree on rules to govern it.  Instead of waiting, mining companies are now trying to go around the international process.  The U.S. government is reviewing The Metals Company’s application to begin commercial mining in the Pacific, and plans to auction mining leases in the waters off American Samoa as early as November 2026, despite opposition from American Samoa’s leaders.

If mining begins, industrial-scale mining machines will tear up the deep seabed,  destroying unique underwater worlds and the creatures that live there. The damage won’t stay in the depths: sediment plumes and noise put ocean life across the Pacific at risk. The deep ocean is also a critical container for planetary carbon and scientists warn that climate change could be hastened by dredging up these deep sea stores.

How can we stop deep sea mining?

Greenpeace is working on multiple fronts to stop deep sea mining before it ever starts:

Corporate engagement

Greenpeace is engaging the potential end users of deep sea mining, the automakers, battery companies, and tech corporations that utilize so-called “energy minerals”, which are the primary target of deep sea miners. By gaining commitments to never use deep sea minerals, we aspire to cut off demand for ocean destruction before there ever is a supply. Our transition to a fossil fuel free future must be ethical and sustainable, and not come at the expense of destroying the thresholds within which humanity can survive, develop, and thrive for generations to come. To achieve this, commercial deep sea mining must never begin.

Pacific communities

Communities across the Pacific stand on the frontline of deep sea mining. They have the most to lose from operations gone wrong, from damages to abundant fisheries to sedimentation of the beautiful coral reefs that are central to Pacific culture and sustenance, and from climate change impacts that could eventually drive these communities from their ancestral homes. Greenpeace’s global network is working with long-standing Pacific activists who don’t want to see deep sea mining off their shores, or anywhere. These are the frontline heroes in this battle, and our role in the Pacific is to support them.

Global Oceans Treaty

Through the Protect the Oceans campaign, Greenpeace is working with nations across the globe to forge a new Global Ocean Treaty that would provide a legal framework for biodiversity protections in nearly half of the planet covered by international waters. Our goal is to achieve a network of fully protected ocean sanctuaries that will cover at least 30% of the ocean by 2030. Due to the political power of deep sea mining interests, there is no guarantee this treaty will be granted the authority to put in place protections against this emerging destructive industry, but Greenpeace and our allies are working tirelessly to see that it does. 

Bearing witness against deep sea miners

While no commercial projects are yet permitted in the global ocean, exploratory deep sea mining is licensed by the United Nations through the International Seabed Authority. These operations are destructive and may have irreversible consequences that even deep sea mining companies admit are wholly unknown due to the lack of sufficient science. Greenpeace is meeting these miners at sea, at port, and in the conference rooms of global politics. We are bearing witness to their destructive activities, and members of our global network have taken action to prevent their assaults upon the sea.

Recent victories

A growing wave of voices are speaking out against deep sea mining. Some demand an outright ban; others call for a moratorium until environmental protection, good governance, and community consent can be guaranteed.  At Greenpeace USA, we believe there is no place for deep sea mining in a healthy well-managed ocean that sustains all life on this planet.

So far, 46 countries have announced support for a moratorium, precautionary pause, or  ban, along with parliamentarians Indigenous and civil society groups, major companies, 82 financial institutions, and more than 900 science and policy experts from over 70 countries.

In July 2024, American Samoa joined Hawaii, California, Washington, and Oregon, in establishing its own ban or restrictions on seabed mining in its waters. 

Opposition in Congress is growing, and it’s bipartisan. In January 2025, Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) reintroduced two bills calling for a moratorium on deep seabed mining until its consequences are fully understood and strong protections are in place. In March 2026, Guam Delegate James Moylan (R) signed on as a cosponsor. The Republican delegates representing three U.S. Pacific territories have also raised concerns about the administration’s effort to fast-track mining permits.

What’s our end goal?

We have a real chance to stop this new ocean threat before it starts and we need your help. We must call on our governments to permanently ban deep sea mining in U.S. waters, block our ports and infrastructure from multinational corporations seeking to benefit from ocean destruction, and support a moratorium at the international level to stop commercial deep sea mining operations from launching before sufficient science or regulations are in place.

Learn more about…

A shark is hauled in as bycatch by crew onboard an Iranian flagged vessel fishing for tuna in the Northern Indian Ocean. These vessels often fish for tuna with 7 mile long gill nets, fishing with a gill net over 1.5 miles is illegal. Greenpeace is in the Northern Indian Ocean to bear witness to the destructive fishing practices of under documented fishing fleets which it is estimated cause the bycatch of 80-100,000 cetaceans per year.
A shark is hauled in as bycatch by crew onboard an Iranian flagged vessel fishing for tuna in the Northern Indian Ocean. These vessels often fish for tuna with 7 mile long gill nets, fishing with a gill net over 1.5 miles is illegal. Greenpeace is in the Northern Indian Ocean to bear witness to the destructive fishing practices of under documented fishing fleets which it is estimated cause the bycatch of 80-100,000 cetaceans per year.
© Abbie Trayler-Smith / Greenpeace
Protecting workers & wildlife at sea
Greenpeace USA activists unfurl a giant banner reading ‘Ocean Treaty Now!’ to send a clear message to delegates at the United Nations in New York at the start of the second week of the resumed IGC5 negotiations. Without a strong Treaty being agreed at this round of talks, it will be practically impossible to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. This is the minimum scientists say is necessary to allow the oceans to recover from decades of pollution, overfishing, and other industrial activities.
Greenpeace USA activists unfurl a giant banner reading ‘Ocean Treaty Now!’ to send a clear message to delegates at the United Nations in New York at the start of the second week of the resumed IGC5 negotiations. Without a strong Treaty being agreed at this round of talks, it will be practically impossible to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. This is the minimum scientists say is necessary to allow the oceans to recover from decades of pollution, overfishing, and other industrial activities.
© Stephanie Keith / Greenpeace
The Global Oceans Treaty

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