The Norwegian government has reached a budget agreement that halts all plans for deep-sea mining exploration and exploitation for the next four years.
This decision marks a significant U-turn, with the country previously having approved the opening of a vast area of its continental shelf – 281,200 square kilometres – to deep-sea mining activities.
The temporary pause reflects growing awareness that deep-sea mining would industrialise one of Earth’s least understood ecosystems. Scientists warn that deep-sea mining could lead to large-scale and irreversible biodiversity loss, caused by ecosystem fragmentation and destruction, noise and light pollution, and sediment plumes that would spread for large areas beyond mining sites.
By pressing a temporary pause, Norway acknowledges that sound decisions cannot be made without robust scientific knowledge, baseline data and a clear understanding of cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems and fisheries.
The pause brings Norway closer to the position taken by Nordic partners: one year ago the Nordic Council asked Nordic countries like Norway to support a moratorium.
It also brings Norway’s position closer in line with that of OSPAR – a body of governments across the northeast Atlantic – which in June adopted a Ministerial Declaration explicitly stating that their countries will apply the precautionary principle to deep-sea mining and adopt appropriate measures to address this threat.
While welcome, the halt is temporary and political in nature. It does not yet amount to a formal precautionary pause or moratorium grounded in law or long-term policy.
This is why Norway should build on this decision by formally committing to a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining, and join the now 40 countries, several researchers, NGOs, financial institutions and international organisations opposed to this harmful and unnecessary practice.
Reacting to the announcement, Truls Gulowsen, leader of The Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature/Friends of the Earth Norway, said:
“This is a historic victory for the deep sea! With this victory, we have averted a natural disaster before it even started.”
Simon Holmström, Deep-Sea Mining Policy Officer at Seas At Risk (of which Friends of the Earth Norway is a member), said:
“Norway has stepped back from the brink. This four-year pause is a clear admission that deep-sea mining is too uncertain and too risky to proceed. The next step must be decisive: turn this temporary political compromise into a moratorium, grounded in science, international law and ocean stewardship.”
More and more countries are recognising what over 60 businesses – including major car manufacturers and technology companies – have been saying for years: deep-sea mining is not a solution to the raw materials challenge, it is a distraction.
“Now more than ever, the EU must step up its own policies, including the RESourceEU initiative, to deliver robust and resilient alternatives. That means reducing material demand, scaling up recycling, extending product lifetimes and accelerating innovation in battery and clean-tech design – measures that address supply risks at their root, rather than creating new environmental and geopolitical ones,” added Simon Holmström.
Posted on: 3 December 2025
