Norway has closed the door to deep-sea mining in its waters until at least 2029, stopping an industry that had been on the cusp of launching in spite the environmental risks it presented. On Dec. 3, Norway’s five political parties supporting the new government debated the fiscal budget. They agreed that the government would not launch the first round of deep-sea mineral licensing, which had been tentatively set for 2026. The parties also decided to cut public funding for state-led seabed mineral mapping efforts. Two days later, on Dec. 5, the decision to pause deep-sea mining efforts was officially voted on in parliament, reversing the previous decision to push forward with the industry. Lars Haltbrekken, a member of the Norwegian parliament for the Socialist Left Party, said he was satisfied with the decision. The Socialist Left Party played a major role last year in stopping the previously planned deep-sea mining licensing round. “I’m happy that we managed to stop it again, and I hope that we now have stopped it for good,” Haltbrekken told Mongabay. “The reason is that there are huge environmental risks by starting deep-sea mining.” Snorre Erichsen Skjevrak, a state secretary for the Norwegian Ministry of Energy, which was overseeing deep-sea mining plans, acknowledged the pause but said the “budget agreement is a political compromise that does not affect the regulatory framework or management strategy for seabed minerals.” “Our policy is unchanged,” Skjevrak told Mongabay in an email. “Our objective is to facilitate the possibility of future,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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