Deep Seabed Mining

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride Excerpts

Monday 6th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I think my noble friend has said essentially the same thing: we should take part in constructive discussions; anything else is just rhetoric.

[Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Lab)]

My Lords, deep seabed mining is associated with the fragmentation of ecosystems and the loss of marine species. As we know, one of the best solutions is recycling and reusing minerals such as magnesium, cobalt and zinc, which are often the targets of deep seabed mining. What plans do Her Majesty’s Government have to accelerate this principle of recycling? Can the Minister explain a little more about the consultation and discussions with the ISA?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct. The net zero campaign that we all contribute to and support will produce massive demand for many of those minerals, so investing in two new interdisciplinary circular economy centres—one on technology metals and one on circular metals—will help. Separately, Defra will be consulting later this year on new measures that will ensure that we better manage electronic waste and do more to drive up reuse and recycling, because of course that is a much preferable solution.