RIVIAN PLEDGES TO KEEP THE DEEP SEA OUT OF VEHICLES

Rivian pledges to keep the deep sea out of vehicles. As world leaders gather in Brest, France for the One Ocean Summit to advance the critical action needed to protect the ocean, electric vehicle (EV) start-up, Rivian, pledges to keep the deep sea out of their vehicles.

The Amazon and Ford-backed EV start-up is the latest company to commit to safeguarding the health of the ocean, by keeping minerals strip-mined from the deep sea out of supply chains. Rivian joins BMW Group, Volvo Group, Volkswagen Group, Google, Scania, and others as pressure mounts to halt the emerging deep-sea mining industry.

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), a coalition of over 90 NGOs including Greenpeace and WWF, as well as many other civil society groups are urging companies, including EV manufacturers, to commit to not using minerals sourced from the deep ocean due to the significant environmental and social risks posed by the potential exploitation of the deep seabed. Scientists continue to warn that deep-sea mining would cause irreversible damage to fragile ecosystems that have taken millions of years to form, could cause species extinctions, and risks disturbing one of our planet’s largest carbon sinks.

The case for gouging minerals from the deep seabed grows weaker by the day, as battery technology advances at a rapid pace. A new generation of batteries that don’t use minerals such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese, continue to enter the market while plans and technologies to recycle the minerals needed for battery technology are gaining momentum.

The pledge from Rivian comes as the speculative deep-sea mining industry continues to garner negative media attention. The financial risks associated with the industry are coming to light, with shares of The Metals Company, falling by 90% since its public listing on NASDAQ earlier this year. The global chorus of voices calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining continues to grow.