WWF World Wildlife Fund on Telegram by GRT : World Wide Fund for Nature / Fondo Mundial para la Naturaleza

Dear Prime Minister Støre,

We write to you as the undersigned civil society organisations to raise the importance of preserving the deep ocean from the threat of deep sea mining, in light of Norway’s alarming proposal to open up large areas of the Norwegian extended continental shelf in the high Arctic to deep sea mining.

The deep sea supports the multiple ecosystem processes necessary for Earth’s natural systems to function, including the absorption and storage of vast quantities of the carbon emitted into the air by human activities. Scientists believe that as many as 10 million species may inhabit the deep sea, the majority of which are yet to be discovered. The high Arctic is an environment of international significance, and is home to important marine species.

Contrary to the argumentation of deep sea mining companies, mining the seabed is not needed ...

Prime Minister Støre, your co-chair of the Ocean Panel, Palau, and a growing number of governments including from European countries like France, Germany and Spain have taken a precautionary position, advocating a precautionary pause, a moratorium or a ban on deep sea mining. Scientists, Indigenous groups, fisheries and seafood organisations, civil society organisations, and major businesses including Storebrand, BMW, and Google are all calling for a stop to deep sea mining. The European Investment Bank has excluded deep sea mining from its investments as it is deemed ‘unacceptable in climate and environmental terms’, and the European Parliament has called for a moratorium multiple times.

It is not too late to live up to the responsibilities as co-chair of the Ocean Panel and to establish Norway as a leading country in the increasing opposition to deep sea mining. We urge you to step back from the brink of introducing this destructive industry and to support a global moratorium on deep sea mining. Unless the Norwegian government stops the opening process, we believe Norway should resign from the Ocean Panel.

Yours sincerely

In 2018, 302.18 million cattle (including buffalo) were slaughtered for meat.

Far more hides are produced from cattle production each year than are used for leather. In the US alone, some industry experts estimate that around 17% of hides are wasted. The US produced 33 million hides in 2019.

Around 20% of leather is absorbed by the auto industry for vehicle interiors.

Beef is a major driver of deforestation and conversion of habitat in Latin America, and leather is inextricably linked to the beef industry.

Leather sourced from areas with high deforestation and conversion rates can easily have double the GHG footprint than without. But cattle raised far from deforestation frontiers can have high deforestation related footprints from their feed; each 10% addition of deforestation-contaminated soy to the diet increases the total GHG footprint for cattle by about 25%.

Many companies, particularly in the auto and fashion industries, are touting “vegan” leather and have increased their use of leather alternatives, in part due to perceptions related to leather having negative animal welfare and environmental impacts.

Often missing from this narrative is that most leather alternatives are made using plastic, which is created from fossil fuels, does not biodegrade, and has littered oceans and soils with debris and microplastics, causing tremendous damage to biodiversity. Tesla, for example, has stopped using leather interiors, yet is promoting fossil fuel reduction from its electric vehicles, which does not consider the impact of fossil fuels in its leather alternative interiors.

If plastic-based leather used for a car interior is biobased and responsibly sourced and for which there is an effective, end of life management process in place (ideally, recycled), it might be a strong choice in terms of total impact.

The largest source of plastic ingestion is drinking water* with plastic found in water (groundwater, surface water, tap water and bottled water) all over the world.

Another key source is shellfish, accounting for as much as 0.5 grams a week. This comes from the fact that shellfish are eaten whole, including their digestive system, after a life in plastic- polluted seas.

Thank Volvo for supporting a global moratorium on deep sea mining. They are among the leaders in the race to the top.

https://www.racetothetop.app/?company=volvo
https://www.greenpeace.org/stop-deep-sea-mining
https://www.stopdeepseabedmining.org/
https://ejfoundation.org/what-we-do/ocean/stop-deep-sea-mining
https://t.center/MissionWillowProject

While fossil fuels are burnt once, major battery inputs like lithium and copper can be recycled multiple times. By 2040, recycled materials have the potential to supply over half of the essential elements for new batteries, even with growing battery demand. Large companies with high use rates of minerals, such as electric car company Polestar, have declared their intention to transition to a closed-loop system. This approach must be scaled and accelerated https://perma.cc/VA5W-D76Z

We’re working to improve the efficiency of our batteries, while taking action to address environmental, social, and human rights issues https://perma.cc/PH3Q-MFDB

Polestar x Cyclic Materials: an attractive partnership https://perma.cc/Q7MY-JR3E

Polestar 0 project: starting and ending with zero https://perma.cc/UL99-SUFM

Green charging: ways to contribute to the energy transition https://perma.cc/Y3A5-XVH4

Electric models include Volvo FH, FM & FMX Electric heavy duty trucks https://perma.cc/4AR2-58JH

Gruvedrift på havbunnen https://perma.cc/A26P-NSKW

🇳🇴😩 WWF condemns Norway's deep seabed mining plans https://perma.cc/D4W7-ARFW

Norge vil åpne for undersjøisk gruvedrift i arktiske farvann https://perma.cc/82NQ-975Q

BMW/Volvo: nei til undersjøisk https://perma.cc/GG78-8YQ7

Four leading global companies today announced their support for a global moratorium on deep seabed mining. Initiated by BMW Group & WWF, and signed by Samsung SDI, Google & Volvo Group, the companies join the increasing chorus of concern about the significant risks to economies & to ocean health that would arise from opening up the deep seabed to extraction of minerals https://perma.cc/H8GP-9C7M