The environmental group Greenpeace has accused the German federal government of playing a dual role concerning deep-sea mining. According to a review conducted by “Greenpeace Investigativ” and reported by “Die Zeit,” the government has invested at least €300 million into seafloor research since the start of the millennium. Greenpeace claims a significant portion of this funding has a direct benefit for future deep-sea mining operations.
The investigation focuses on the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), which holds two exploration licenses with the International Seabed Authority (ISA)-one in the Central Pacific and one in the Indian Ocean. The report alleges that German companies, supported by public funding, are testing novel equipment there. This technology is versatile, potentially serving fundamental research, oceanography, and environmental protection, but also being useful for resource exploration and extraction. For instance, one company is developing a drill for sampling and mining ore on the seabed, a project that is co-funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs.
Despite this, the German government has championed an international “precautionary pause” on deep-sea mining since 2022. The Federal Ministry of Research stated in response to an inquiry that it has never subsidized “maritime mining,” insisting that all explorations were strictly for scientific and environmental research purposes. Similarly, the BGR rejected the claims that it is currently preparing for mining. They maintain that while they plan to test certain extraction methods, these are merely “component tests,” not actual exploratory mining.
However, Christian Müller, head of the BGR Marine Resource Exploration division, told “Die Zeit” that while Carsten Schneider (SPD) promotes the “precautionary pause” as the environmental minister at the ISA, the Ministry of Economics is also eyeing other sectors, such as technology development and securing resource supplies. Müller suggested that a “race for the pie slices in the deep sea” has already begun. The ISA has granted 31 exploration licenses globally, and Germany currently holds two, with China holding five.
Müller further noted that once the German concession areas have been fully explored, the country will face a decision: whether to return all the data to the Seabed Authority, or “to do something with it for the benefit of Germany.” The federal government’s resource strategy acknowledges that it is “keeping its options open” regarding involvement in deep-sea mining. Greenpeace plans to fully release its findings later this week.
Economically, manganese nodules, found between 3,000 and 6,000 meters deep, are attractive for deep-sea mining because they contain relatively high levels of copper, nickel, and cobalt. While most scientific evidence suggests these nodules are solely the product of algae and microorganisms, a study from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) indicated that several collected nodules could generate enough pressure to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis, yielding significantly more oxygen than previously estimated. The mining of these nodules could therefore endanger the local ecosystems, alongside other vulnerable deep-sea habitats such as seamounts and hydrothermal vents.
