Deep Seabed Mining, Minerals and Circularity - Scientific work on status-quo, projections, sustainability aspects, and alternative raw material supply concepts

Recent developments around planned exploitation activities for deep sea mining deposits raise widespread concern over environmental impacts and potentially irreversible effects on biodiversity and ocean-climate interactions. While these concerns are widely recognised, some players argue that deep-sea mining may be required to secure raw materials needed for transition to a carbon-neural economy, and to mitigate politically induced scarcities resulting from global competition around land-based resources.

As environmental organisation WWF finds itself in a situation where it aims for a protection of deep-sea ecosystems, while at the same time supporting strategies for renewable energies and carbon neutral economies. In this context, the WWF requires solid, scientifically backed background knowledge to support internal position finding regarding deep-sea mining, as well as for supporting its communication with third parties on this topic.