Deep seabed mining. Etica Funds has always been committed to giving a voice to issues relating to the protection and preservation of biodiversity in the financial world. In 2023, it signed the Global Financial Institutions Statement to Governments on Deep Seabed Mining, coordinated by the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation. Today, the statement has more than 40 financial institution signatories, collectively representing over EUR 3.9 trillion in assets under management.
The Investor Statement, addressed to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), urges governments to protect the oceans and refrain from proceeding with deep seabed mining until the environmental, social and economic risks have been fully understood and alternatives to deep-sea minerals have been thoroughly explored.
The appeal by Etica Funds and the other signatories reflects concerns expressed by the scientific community about the irreversible impact that mining could have on delicate and sensitive ocean ecosystems. Allowing mining in this largely unexplored environment would not only destabilise fragile marine ecosystems, but could also undermine the very foundations of a circular ocean economy.
Three years after the statement was signed, the situation remains far from settled. On the contrary, while international rules continue to be delayed, the environmental debate has been joined by another issue that directly concerns investors. This is because deep seabed mining, even before being an environmental issue, remains a business whose economic sustainability is still unknown.
Deep seabed mining and the international legal framework
In July 2023, the United Nations adopted the High Seas Treaty, an agreement representing a historic breakthrough in international cooperation for the protection of marine biodiversity. For the Treaty to enter into force as a legally binding instrument, 60 ratifications were required. That threshold was reached on 19 September 2025, when Morocco and Sierra Leone deposited their instruments of ratification.
Following the required 120-day period, the Treaty officially entered into force on 17 January 2026. For the first time, there is now a legally binding framework for governing the two-thirds of the ocean that lie beyond national jurisdictions. The number of ratifications has since risen above eighty, and the first Conference of the Parties is expected to take place by the end of 2026.
The Treaty provides a global framework supporting the achievement of international biodiversity targets. One of the most significant is the commitment to protect at least 30% of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030, as set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This target remains a long way off, considering that just over 1% of the high seas is currently protected. Individual countries can now propose marine areas for protection, which will then be submitted to a collective vote by the governments that are parties to the Treaty.
As with other United Nations treaties, however, the agreement has limited mechanisms for direct enforcement. States that ratify it undertake to comply with it as a matter of international law, but countries that choose not to join are under no such obligation. The framework therefore remains fragile. One example is the executive order signed by President Trump to promote deep seabed mining, taking advantage of the regulatory vacuum created by the fact that the International Seabed Authority — the UN body responsible for regulating the exploitation of resources in international waters — has yet to adopt definitive rules for the sector.
July 2026: the ISA once again postpones the Mining Code
That regulatory vacuum has still not been filled. During the ISA Council session held in Kingston from 13 to 24 July 2026, the Authority once again failed to finalise the Mining Code, the set of rules and procedures intended to govern the commercial exploitation of the deep seabed. Too many issues remain unresolved, ranging from environmental protection criteria to mechanisms for sharing economic benefits.
Very little is still known about deep seabed mining. These environments remain largely unexplored, to the extent that even the technical feasibility of mining operations remains uncertain, quite apart from their potential consequences for ecosystems.
Beyond the environment: why deep seabed mining also represents a financial risk
While the ISA negotiations were under way, WWF published a guide for the financial sector that shifts the focus beyond the more familiar environmental dimension. Its conclusion is clear: even setting environmental impacts aside, deep seabed mining remains too uncertain a business to offer credible returns. For investors, therefore, it is simply too risky.
There are several reasons, and they reinforce one another.
- Companies with no revenues. The few specialised companies operating in the sector are still raising capital, but they have no commercial operations and generate no revenues. Their business plans rely on highly uncertain assumptions about future demand and commodity prices. The first corporate failures have already occurred: Canada’s Nautilus Minerals in 2019 and Norway’s Loke Marine Minerals in 2025.
- Unfavourable commodity markets. Most exploration activities focus on polymetallic nodules, which contain nickel, copper, manganese and cobalt. However, nickel and cobalt are currently affected by oversupply, making prices highly volatile, to the point that Indonesia has restricted production of the former and the Democratic Republic of the Congo exports of the latter. Copper and manganese are also abundant in terrestrial deposits, where extraction is considerably cheaper. Rare earth elements, meanwhile, are found only in limited quantities on the seabed and are particularly complex to separate.
- Regulatory uncertainty. All of this assumes that a regulatory framework will eventually be established. Given the difficulties faced by the ISA, this outcome is far from certain. Any future rules will also have to take into account other instruments of international law aimed at protecting marine biodiversity, beginning with the High Seas Treaty, which is now in force.
This perspective speaks the language of finance and reinforces, from a risk standpoint, what Etica Funds has long argued from an impact perspective: the loss of biodiversity is not merely an environmental issue, but a financial risk factor in its own right. According to WWF, 82 financial institutions — representing approximately EUR 24 trillion in assets under management — have adopted a policy or expressed concerns about deep seabed mining. Of these, 39 exclude its financing.
Why has Etica Funds made this commitment?
The depths of the ocean are one of the very few remaining largely untouched ecosystems, and opening them up to exploitation without a comprehensive understanding of the consequences would entail significant risks. The loss of biodiversity is increasingly recognised as a risk factor not only for the environment, but also at a financial level, as it poses a threat to entire sectors of our economy and is therefore something that must be taken into account when deciding whether to invest in specific companies.
As Aldo Bonati, Stewardship and ESG Networks Manager at Etica confirmed: “The current climate situation demands the utmost caution when making decisions about extracting minerals from ocean areas below 200 metres, which make up over 95% of the planet’s biosphere. In line with the commitment undertaken by Etica in 2020 in support of the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, we believe it is premature to begin an activity with such a significant impact on the environment and the climate. We believe that solutions should be pursued that require fewer resources, by working to reduce consumption and increase the efficiency with which available materials are used, in keeping with a circular economy approach. It is therefore important to continue promoting advocacy and awareness-raising activities aimed at institutions and regulators.”
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