Des mines dans l’Arctique ? - Notre lettre au parlement et au gouvernement norvégien

Suite à une annonce du ministre de l’énergie, La Norvège pourrait commencer à octroyer des licences d’exploitation minière des fonds de l’Arctique dès 2025, malgré les promesses faites.

Avec Emma Fourreau et plus de 50 parlementaires, nous avons écrit au gouvernement et au parlement norvégiens pour leur demander de stopper cette folie et de protéger l'Arctique, les fonds marins et le climat. Notre lettre :

We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, are expressing our great concern about Norway's accelerated process to grant deep-seabed mining licenses in Arctic waters, and solemnly call on the Norwegian government and the Storting to stop the process of this highly destructive industry in the Arctic.

On January 9th, 2024, the Storting voted on the Norwegian government’s proposal to open deep-sea mining exploration and exploitation in an area of 281,200 square km in the Arctic. This decision received heavy criticism from the Norwegian Environmental Agency (Miljødirektoratet) who stated that the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment provided by the government was insufficient to allow areas to be opened for deep-sea exploration and exploitation, and concluded that the opening lacks both scientific and legal foundation. The decision was also opposed by the Norwegian Geological Survey (Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse), a joint NGO community, financial institutions like KLP, research institutions and universities such as the Norwegian University for Science and Technology, the Institute for Marine Research and the University of Bergen.

Following this decision, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution on Norway’s decision to advance seabed mining in the Arctic (2024/2520(RSP)) on February 7th 2024, expressing concerns on the government’s decision to open the Arctic to deep-sea mining activities and calling on all countries, including Norway, to apply the precautionary principle and support an international moratorium on deep-seabed mining.

At that time, the Norwegian government reassured the world that no exploitation licences would be given before further environmental assessment had been done. However, on June 26, Norway's Ministry of Energy proposed its first licensing round for exploitation licences covering 386 blocks across 106,000 square km - roughly two thirds of Norway’s terrestrial surface - which companies could apply to obtain.

The Norwegian government’s view is now to grant these exploitation licenses in the first half of 2025, far from what it promised back in January.

Opening Arctic waters to deep-sea mining would, according to scientists, cause potentially irreversible harm to marine biodiversity, to Arctic and Northern European fish stocks, and risk destabilizing our global climate. The High Arctic, where parts of the opening areas are located, has been identified in the Norwegian Ocean Management Plans as being of central ecological importance, with particularly vulnerable ecosystems. In the midst of a triple planetary crisis, we need to protect ecosystems like the deep sea and the Arctic, that store vast amounts of carbon, produce oxygen, host a unique and fragile biodiversity, and that are vital for the stability of our global climate.

Moreover, in September 2024, a public consultation comment was given from the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, who warns about a risk of nuclear contamination associated with deep-sea mining activity, including exploration, especially radioactive waste production. The Authority states that the Strategic Impact Assessment provided by the government does not have sufficient data to ensure there won’t be any risk of nuclear contamination and radioactive waste production.

As Arctic and Northern European fisheries would be affected by this project, we solemnly ask the Norwegian government and Storting to cease this process and to implement a moratorium on this industry. This would not only be aligned with the scientific consensus on the need to scientifically explore these critical ecosystems, but also with international law, as Norway is a party to the ESPOO and OSPAR conventions, and the BBNJ Treaty.

Furthermore, much research shows that deep-sea mining is not essential for the green transition, and that it is misleading to say that it is a solution to the climate crisis. The EU has also shown strong opposition to deep-sea mining, and the European Commission recently reiterated its strong opposition to this industry..

We call on Norway to stop the licensing process of this highly destructive industry in the Arctic, and to join the 32 countries globally which call for a moratorium, a precautionary pause or a ban on deep-sea mining. The stakes are too great to put both deep sea and Arctic ecosystems, two ecosystems on which humanity relies for food, carbon storage and climate stability, at risk.

MEP Marie Toussaint, Greens/EFA

MEP Emma Fourreau, The Left

MEP Li Andersson, The Left

MEP Thomas Bajada, Socialists and Democrats

MEP Marc Botenga, The Left

MEP Lynn Boylan, The Left

MEP Saskia Bricmont, Greens/EFA

MEP Pascal Canfin, Renew

MEP Damien Careme, The Left

MEP Leila Chaibi, The Left

Catherine Chabaud, former MEP, Renew

MEP Per Clausen, The Left

MEP Christophe Clergeau, Socialists and Democrats

MEP David Cormand, Greens/EFA

MEP Sebastian Everding, The Left

MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, The Left

MEP Sigrid Friis, Renew

MEP Kathleen Funchion, The Left

MEP Hanna Gedin, The Left

MEP Elisabeth Grossmann, Socialists and Democrats

MEP Cristina Guarda, Greens/EFA

MEP Rima Hassan, The Left

MEP Anja Hazekamp, The Left

MEP Pär Holmgren, Greens/EFA

MEP Rudi Kennes, The Left

MEP Alice Kuhnke, Greens/EFA

MEP Merja Kyllönen, The Left

MEP Katrin Langensiepen, Greens/EFA

MEP Isabella Lövin, Greens/EFA

MEP Mimmo Lucano, The Left

MEP Sara Matthieu, Greens/EFA

MEP Catarina Martins, The Left

MEP Vicent Marzà-Ibañez, Greens/EFA

MEP Marina Mesure, The Left

MEP Tilly Metz, Greens/EFA

MEP Ana Miranda, Greens/EFA

MEP Ville Niinistö, Greens/EFA

MEP Rasmus Nordqvist, Greens/EFA

MEP Jutta Paulus, Greens/EFA

MEP Carola Rackete, The Left

MEP André Franqueira Rodrigues, Socialists and Democrats

MEP Eric Sargiacomo, Socialists and Democrats

MEP Mounir Satouri, Greens/EFA

MEP Majdouline Sbai, Greens/EFA

MEP Lena Schilling, Greens/EFA

MEP Virginijus Sinkevicius, Greens/EFA

MEP Jonas Sjöstedt, The Left

MEP Anthony Smith, The Left

MEP Villy Søvndal, Greens/EFA

MEP Dario Tamburrano, The Left

MEP Bruno Tobback, Socialists and Democrats

MEP Thomas Waitz, Greens/EFA

MEP Michal Wiezik, Renew

MEP Lucia Yar, Renew