The Pacific Ocean, an immense and powerful force — dynamic, life-sustaining, and deeply complex.
“Ocean is vast, Oceania is expanding. Oceania is hospitable and generous, Oceania is humanity rising from the depths of brine and regions of fire deeper still, Oceania is us. We are the sea, we are the ocean, we must wake up to this ancient truth and together use it to overturn all hegemonic views that ultimately aim to confine us again, physically and psychologically, in the tiny spaces that we have resisted accepting as our sole appointed places and from which we have recently liberated ourselves. We must not allow anyone to belittle us again, and take away our freedom. – Hau’ofa, E. 1994. Our Sea of Islands”
And perhaps summarize what Colonialism, Capitalism, Climate Change, Nuclear testing and extractivism did to the Pacific and continues to do in the Pacific…..plain truths!
Facts about Deep Sea Mining: What It Means for the Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is a source of life. It feeds us, connects us, and holds our stories. For generations, Pacific peoples have protected the Moana — not just for ourselves, but for the world.
But now, that ocean is under threat from a dangerous and unnecessary industry: deep sea mining.
Companies like The Metals Company (TMC) want to tear up the seafloor in search of minerals — and they’re targeting the Pacific as their testing ground. We can’t let that happen.
Here’s what you need to know about deep sea mining — and why we must stop it before it starts.
What is Deep Sea Mining?
Deep sea mining involves using giant machines to extract metals like cobalt and nickel from the ocean floor, often at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 metres. These metals are found in three main forms; Polymetallic nodules scattered across the seafloor, Polymetallic sulphides around hydrothermal vents, and Cobalt-rich crusts on underwater mountains called seamounts.
Mining companies say this is needed for the “green transition” — but that’s not true. We already have alternatives, and we can build better systems without destroying the deep sea.
This isn’t about saving the planet. It’s about profit.
What’s at Risk for the Pacific?
The deep sea is one of the most fragile and least understood ecosystems on Earth. Life there evolves slowly — some species live for hundreds or even thousands of years. We’re only just beginning to understand how it all works.
Tearing up the seabed could:
- Wipe out species before they’re even discovered
- Disrupt climate systems by interfering with carbon storage
- Spread toxic sediment that harms marine life across the ocean
- Risk to Pacific Food security
Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.
This Is About More Than the Environment
For Pacific peoples, the ocean is family. It holds our history, our culture, and our future. It’s not a resource to be exploited — it’s a sacred space to be protected.
Deep sea mining threatens to break that relationship. It’s not just environmental destruction — it’s cultural loss. It violates our right to protect the spaces our ancestors have cared for over generations for our future generations?
The recent discovery of “dark oxygen”—oxygen produced in the ocean’s depths without sunlight—has profound implications for our understanding of marine ecosystems. This phenomenon, identified in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, suggests that metallic nodules can generate oxygen through electrolysis, a process previously unknown in such environments. This revelation underscores the complexity and fragility of deep-sea habitats, highlighting the need for caution in any activities that could disrupt these delicate systems.
For Pacific communities, the ocean is not merely a resource but a sacred space integral to our identity and heritage. The potential impacts of deep-sea mining on these newly discovered processes and ecosystems could lead to irreversible cultural and environmental losses. Therefore, it is imperative that decisions regarding the ocean’s future prioritize the protection of its mysteries and the rights of those who have long revered its depths.
Who Really Benefits? (Hint: It’s Not the Pacific)
The deep sea mining industry says it will create opportunities for Pacific nations. But the truth is, companies like The Metals Company are using our leaders— cutting corners, ignoring science, and fast-tracking approvals without consent. They have not only exploited a loophole in international law by using Nauru to fast-track deep sea mining — they’ve also taken full advantage of the Trump administration’s disdain for multilateralism to push their agenda. By undermining global consensus and ignoring scientific warnings, TMC is attempting to mine the ocean floor without proper rules or regional consent.
This isn’t development; it’s a modern-day extraction scheme dressed up as opportunity. While U.S. politicians frame deep sea mining as a geopolitical strategy against China, the real cost will be borne by Pacific communities — yet again left out of decisions that directly affect their environment, their economies, and their future. We’ve been here before — from colonial resource grabs to nuclear testing — and we know who really benefits. It’s not the Pacific.
Deep sea mining is a nascent industry which threatens to destroy deep ocean habitats that we still know very little about. In parallel, Greenpeace International activists are in the Pacific Ocean where they have been carrying out a protest against The Metals Company for the past six days.
TMC used Nauru to trigger a controversial loophole at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), trying to rush into mining before global rules are even in place. That’s not partnership — it’s exploitation.
We know how this story goes. We’ve seen it with colonialism. With nuclear testing. With climate change.
We Need a Moratorium Now
A moratorium on deep sea mining would pause this dangerous industry before it causes irreversible harm. It’s our best chance to:
- Let science catch up
- Give communities a real say
- Protect the ocean for future generations and all humankind
Countries like Vanuatu, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu and Fiji have already taken a stand. We need more leaders — and everyday people — to rise up.
The Pacific is Not a Mining Zone
The ocean is not a profit-making playground for corporations. It’s a life force — and it belongs to all of us.
Deep sea mining is a destructive industry driven by reckless greed. But we still have time to stop it.
Together, we can protect our moana, honour the wisdom of Pacific guardians, and clearly say: No to deep sea mining in the Pacific — Not Now, Not Ever.
Join the Movement
Call on governments to back a global moratorium.
Stand in solidarity with Pacific communities leading the resistance.
[Sign the petition] to help protect our blue Pacific home.
The deep sea is not for sale. Let’s rise up to protect it — together.
But a $345 million U.S. verdict against the environmental group hangs over the case.
A lawsuit filed by Greenpeace International against the U.S.-based fossil fuel company Energy Transfer in the Netherlands is moving forward after a Dutch court recently ruled in favor of the environmental organization in rejecting the company’s bid to toss out the case.
Greenpeace’s Dutch Anti-SLAPP Case Against Oil Pipeline Giant Advances
Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and oceans correspondent Teresa Tomassoni as they discuss the search for heat-resilient coral reefs that are somehow defying the odds to survive a warming planet.
The world has already lost more than half of its coral reefs, and most of what remains is at risk of disappearing in the next 25 years.
Climate Change
DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Bonn talks close
‘SIDE-STEPPING AND STALLING’: UN climate talks in Bonn have ended in “gridlock”, according to Climate Home News. The outlet reported on the failure to balance developing countries’ need for climate-adaptation finance with “richer nations’ desire to move forward” on emissions cuts. It added that both topics were subject to “rule 16”, meaning no agreement could be reached and work will be pushed to the COP31 summit in Turkey. Inside Climate News quoted UN climate executive secretary Simon Stiell, who said the talks had seen “side-stepping and stalling”.
JUST TRANSITION: One “glimmer of hope” came from negotiations on achieving a “just transition”, reported Euronews. The news outlet said negotiators “made headway on operationalising the Belém-Antalya mechanism”, intended to support people in the shift to a low-carbon economy. However, Politico concluded that much of the focus in Bonn had “shift[ed] to efforts outside diplomatic talks – raising questions about the future of global climate negotiations”.
‘ATTACKING SCIENCE’: Agence France-Presse reported on the EU, Switzerland and “dozens of developing nations” warning of “attacks on science” by a “small group of fossil-fuels interests” in Bonn. Table Briefings explained that “the 1.5C target is increasingly being challenged” and the role of the UN climate-science panel – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – in an upcoming assessment of global climate progress “remains controversial”. See Carbon Brief’s full write-up of the talks for more detail.
US-Iran deal
PRICE DROP: The US and Iran announced that they have reached an interim agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz, reported Bloomberg. Oil prices have fallen, as the “long-awaited deal” began the process of “eas[ing]” the global energy crisis triggered by the conflict, according to the New York Times. The Associated Press noted that high fuel prices will “likely outlast the Iran war”.
‘OIL GLUT’: The Financial Times reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a “glut of oil” emerging next year, if the peace deal holds. The IEA said this would allow countries to build new strategic reserves, as they “review their energy strategies and policies in response to the crisis”, according to Reuters.
‘NEW ERA’: Agence France-Presse reported that oil and gas companies have “few illusions about a return to normal for the Gulf energy industry after more than three months of blockage”. One analyst told the newswire that the war “showed the oil and gas industry that Hormuz risk is no longer just a geopolitical headline”.
Around the world
- OCEAN MONITOR: The Trump administration is “abandoning its plan” to dismantle a $368m ocean monitoring system key for tracking climate change after a “bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill”, reported the New York Times.
- CORAL HAVEN: The New York Times covered preliminary research, presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, suggesting there could be three times as many “coral refugia” – where corals are relatively safe from climate change – than previously thought.
- BAD CREDIT: Down to Earth reported that the first carbon credits issued under the Paris Agreement’s new Article 6.4 mechanism are “facing scrutiny over alleged links to institutions controlled by Myanmar’s military junta”.
- OIL BACKTRACK: Reuters reported that oil-and-gas company Equinor has dropped a renewable-energy target and scaled back clean investments, while another Reuters story noted that Shell is selling off its offshore wind assets.
1.1 billion
The number of children facing “at least three overlapping climate hazards”, according to a new Unicef report covered by Agence France-Presse.
Latest climate research
- Including the “permafrost carbon-climate feedback” in climate models increases the chance of exceeding “tipping elements” – such as the Greenland ice sheets, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or Amazon rainforest – by up to 50% | Environmental Research Letters
- The intensity of influenza outbreaks could decline in temperate regions, but increase in tropical areas over the next century, as the climate warms | PNAS Nexus
- European snow cover has declined by 20% for December and January since the start of the industrial era, revealing an “unprecedented ongoing shrinkage of European winters” | Communications Earth & Environment
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
The more than 2m battery electric vehicles (BEVs), 1m “plug-in” hybrids (PHEVs) and 100,000 electric vans on UK roads are already saving drivers a total of around £3bn a year, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This amounts to savings of more than £1,100 a year in fuel costs for each BEV driver in the UK. The analysis comes amid reports in UK media this week that the government is considering “watering down” its EV sales targets.
Spotlight
Oceans rising at UN climate talks
The state of the world’s oceans is inextricably linked to the changing climate – and many delegates at UN climate talks want to see more focus on this issue, reports Carbon Brief.
Oceans are often described as the world’s “greatest ally” against climate change – absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and most of the heat generated by those emissions.
They are also the site of important climate solutions, such as huge offshore windfarms and the shipping industry’s transition to cleaner fuels.
At the same time, the oceans themselves present a growing danger to coastal communities and sea life due to sea level rise, marine heatwaves and ocean acidification.
These diverse issues have led to growing calls within the UN climate process for more focus on oceans. During climate negotiations this week in Bonn – known as SB64 – nations and civil society had a chance to air these views during an “ocean and climate change dialogue”.
‘Elevate action’
Oceans first entered UN climate outcomes in 2019, when the final COP25 negotiated text requested a new “dialogue” on “the ocean and climate change to consider how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action”.
The following years saw this dialogue established as an annual event. However, the political weight of these discussions has been limited.
COP31 is being co-led by Turkey and Australia, but with Pacific islands playing a supporting role. These small islands sometimes self-identify as “large ocean states”, stressing the ocean’s centrality in their societies.
In Bonn, figures from across the presidency threw their weight behind this issue. Chris Bowen, an Australian minister and incoming COP31 “president of negotiations”, told attendees:
“Australia, Turkey and the Pacific see an important opportunity to elevate ocean-based climate action.”
Strategies and finance
The two-day dialogue in Bonn involved a series of panels, statements and breakout groups.
One of the main topics was how oceans are integrated into national climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).
Three-quarters of the latest round of NDCs mention oceans, with conservation of “blue carbon” ecosystems the most frequently described action. (Landscapes such as mangroves can both absorb CO2 and protect coastal areas.)
Delegates also discussed alignment with the UN biodiversity process, as well as ocean finance, which currently makes up less than 1% of all climate finance.
(As discussions were taking place in Bonn, country officials also gathered in Mombasa, Kenya for the 11th Our Ocean Conference. Carbon Brief’s associate editor Giuliana Viglione attended the conference and will publish a full summary shortly.)
Developing countries were clear that many of the ocean-related actions in their NDCs would depend on receiving more financial support.
‘Political momentum’
With the backing of the COP31 presidency, delegates were hopeful about where this year’s dialogue could lead.
Charles Hamilton, an advisor for the Bahamas who spoke for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the dialogue, told Carbon Brief that island representatives “are not traveling thousands of miles to just talk and pat ourselves on the back”. He added:
“A dialogue that just remains a dialogue is just more talk – no action.”
Given that, he said “discussions in the dialogue must move into COP decisions and the decisions must be actioned”, noting the importance of finance.
Marina Corrêa, oceans lead at WWF-Brazil, pointed to an upcoming UN climate change Standing Committee on Finance forum as a space to ramp up pressure on ocean finance.
More broadly, she wanted to see the presidencies translate their support into a “leader-level ocean initiative” that could “mainstream” oceans across negotiations.
“We have a really interesting opportunity, in terms of political momentum,” Corrêa told Carbon Brief.
Watch, read, listen
‘HOTTER THAN HELL’: An episode of the BBC’s Rare Earth podcast titled “hotter than hell” considered the issue of extreme heat, with input from experts and “people facing up to the hottest temperatures on the planet”.
NOT BROKEN?: John Drake, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, wrote an essay for Aeon – also re-published as a Guardian “long read” – questioning the framing of ecosystems and climate systems “breaking down”.
ON COURSE: On his Volts podcast, US climate journalist David Roberts interviewed UK climate minister Katie White, quizzing her about whether the UK will “stay the course with its climate plans”.
Coming up
- 20-28 June: London climate action week
- 21 June: Colombia presidential runoff
- 24 June: UK Climate Change Committee progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to parliament
Pick of the jobs
- Mongabay, managing editor – Africa | Salary: Unknown. Location: Global
- Contexte, environment reporter – Brussels | Salary: €45,000-€60,000. Location: Brussels
- Climate 200, communications director | Salary: Unknown. Location: Australia
- Energy Tracker Asia, energy transition correspondent | Salary: $3,000-$4,000 per month. Location: South-east Asia (remote)
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations appeared first on Carbon Brief.
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