A Fraught Election Just Reshaped the Next Steps for Deep Sea Mining

(Bloomberg) -- A Brazilian oceanographer has been elected the next secretary-general of the International Seabed Authority, a leadership change that could slow the rush to strip-mine deep sea ecosystems for electric vehicle battery metals.

When Leticia Carvalho takes office on Jan. 1, she’ll become the first woman and the first scientist to helm the United Nations-affiliated organization responsible for the fate of 54% of the world’s seabed. A former environmental regulator in Brazil, Carvalho, 50, currently serves as an official at the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi.

Carvalho’s election Friday at the annual summer meeting of the ISA Assembly  in Kingston, Jamaica, ends the two-term tenure of Michael Lodge, a 64-year-old British attorney. Lodge aggressively pushed for the completion of regulations that would allow a potentially multibillion-dollar industry to begin, and drew scrutiny for his closeness to the mining companies the Authority regulates.

The vote by ISA member states — which came down 79-34 for Carvalho — also follows a contentious election campaign. It was marked by accusations that a key Lodge supporter tried to bribe Carvalho to drop out of the race in exchange for a top job at the ISA.

In an interview last month, Carvalho told that as secretary-general she would focus on science and act as a neutral administrator of the ISA, which includes 169 member states and the European Union. “Transparency and accountability is my top priority,” Carvalho said. 

The ISA has already issued 32 contracts to private and state-backed companies to prospect for cobalt, nickel and other metals across more than 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles) of the seabed in international waters. Last year, the organization set a target of July 2025 for the adoption of complex rules to govern those mining efforts. But Carvalho said years of negotiations may still be needed to ensure that biodiverse and little-known deep sea ecosystems are protected from the most harmful effects of mining.

“There is a big amount of work to be done,” she said. “Logically, I can tell you that it's unlikely that this is going to be accomplished by the current deadline.”

Complicating matters, scientists last month published findings that the polymetallic nodules targeted for mining in the Pacific Ocean actually produce oxygen — an extraordinary discovery that several ISA delegates cited in Kingston as a reason to slow mining efforts.

A record number of member states were present at this year’s meeting, where tensions over the future of deep sea mining were on display. Some 32 ISA member states have called for a moratorium or a pause on seabed mining, with five countries joining this week.

Adding urgency to the proceedings is The Metals Company (TMC), a Canadian-registered mining venture that has made clear its intention of applying for a mining license this year, regardless of whether regulations are in place, and its plans to start mining operations in early 2026 if the application is approved. TMC has mining contracts with the small Pacific island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga. The first area of the ocean to be mined is a vast stretch of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico.

“This is colonialism by another name, economic imperialism, where multinational mining companies prioritize profits over the wellbeing of our people and ecosystems,” Surangel Whipps Jr., the president of the Pacific island state of Palau, told delegates this week. 

Palau has led the efforts to impose a moratorium on deep sea mining until its environmental impacts are better understood. Numerous delegations stated that they would not approve any mining licenses until regulations are adopted.

Although her home country of Brazil has urged a 10-year moratorium on mining, Carvalho said it’s not appropriate for the secretary-general to take a position on the issue. “A pause or moratorium is an advocacy position of many, but so far it hasn’t got onto the agenda of the ISA,” she said.

Other delegations, including China, Japan, and some African nations, pressed the ISA to fulfill its legal mandate to enact regulations so mining can begin. “Within our blue Pacific continent, deep seabed minerals hold immense potential for our prosperity,” said Sonny Williams, a delegate for the Cook Islands, a South Pacific archipelago.

TMC Chief Executive Officer Gerard Barron said that he has met with Carvalho several times. “We like her,” he said. “I think she can bring harmony to the ISA at a time when it could really do with some.”

(Updates with comment from TMC’s chief executive officer.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.