Statement by Earthworks’ Mining Program Director Payal Sampat on the Corporate Statement Supporting a Moratorium on Deep Sea Mining

Today BMW, Volvo, Samsung, and Google announced their support for a moratorium on deep sea mining and announced their commitment to not source minerals from the deep seabed. They added their support for “reducing demand for primary metals, transitioning to a resource-efficient, closed-loop materials economy, and developing responsible terrestrial mining practices.”

Earthworks’ Making Clean Energy Clean, Just & Equitable initiative aims to ensure that the clean energy transition is powered by responsibly and equitably sourced minerals that minimizes the need for new extraction and moves the mining industry toward more responsible practices. Today Earthworks also released a new report, Recharge Responsibly, which provides an overview of the social and environmental footprint of mining cobalt, lithium and nickel for battery technologies.

Below is a statement from Earthworks’ Mining Program Director Payal Sampat.

“Earthworks welcomes the commitments made by BMW, Volvo, Samsung and Google to keep deep seabed minerals out of their supply chains and their support for a moratorium on the destructive practice of deep-sea mining. We also recognize the broader support voiced by these companies for transitioning to a closed-loop, circular materials economy and more responsible terrestrial mining practices.

“Today’s announcement comes on the heels of commitments made by companies such as BMW, Daimler-Benz, Ford Motor Company, Microsoft and Tiffany & Co. in joining the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, the world’s most rigorous standard for more responsible mining. The participation of downstream users of metals in IRMA is essential in helping to ensure that clean energy and other technologies are not produced at the expense of communities, ecosystems and human rights.

“Taken together, these commitments represent important and necessary steps towards more responsible mineral sourcing in the tech and electric vehicle supply chains.”