Norway proposed plans to open its waters to deep-sea mining on Tuesday, 20 June 2023.
The areas to be opened are in the Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea and cover an area of some 280,000 square kilometers (108,000 square miles), slightly smaller than the United Kingdom and Ireland put together, according to Reuters.
The recently-announced plans are considered to be controversial with many environmentalists’ expectations and green campaigns.
“Norway presents itself as green on the global scene but their actions say otherwise,” Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway, told Reuters.
The Norwegian government has said it would open the areas responsibly. Parliament is set to debate the proposal in the autumn.
