The Regulation of Seabed Mining: A Conversation with Michael Lodge, Secretary General of the International Seabed Authority

Join us for a conversation on the outlook for seabed mining, environmental protections and regulation and the latest in scientific research with Michael Lodge, Secretary General of the ISA.

As the race to strengthen critical minerals supply chains heats up, attention has increasingly turned to the abundance of those minerals on the ocean floor. Since 2001 the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has issued exploration contracts to search for polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and in the summer of 2023 announced an agreed deadline of 2025 for the adoption of regulations governing seabed mineral extraction in the international seabed area (the Area). As discussions progress, there have been calls for a 10-year moratorium by environmental groups and some governments, and the issue is complicated further by the fact that the US government is not a signatory to the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and therefore only holds observer status in the ISA.