Tesla Inc: Moratorium on Deep Sea Mining

December 11, 2023 As You Sow

WHEREAS: The deep sea contains many of the planet’s intact ecosystems and plays a crucial role in regulating the climate.[1] Studies indicate that mining this underexplored and complex area for battery-related minerals will create irreversible habitat and ecosystem loss and could permanently destroy invaluable carbon storage.[2]

Deep sea mining (DSM) can obliterate sea floor life through dredging, while releasing sediment plumes laced with toxic metals, poisoning marine food chains.[3] Deep sea organisms are slow-growing and fragile, and habitats can require millennia to recover from disturbances.[4] The likely outcomes of DSM include biodiversity loss and jeopardized fish-based livelihoods and food supplies.[5] Further, industrial-scale exploitation of the seafloor could have grave consequences for the ability of the oceans – one of the planet’s biggest carbon sinks — to absorb carbon dioxide, and may even lead to release of carbon stores.[6] Scientists warn that DSM, even done cautiously, could be devastating.

The scientific uncertainty and potential catastrophic impacts of DSM have led many civil society groups, including governments, private organizations, and manufacturers to voice concern. Twenty-four governments have put in place a ban, moratorium, or precautionary pause on DSM.[7] Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers including BMW, Volvo, Volkswagen, Rivian, and Renault have committed to a global moratorium on deep sea mining, pledging to keep their supply chains deep sea mineral free until scientific findings are sufficient to assess the environmental risks of DSM.[8]

Peers adopting the moratorium underscores the precautionary principle and the availability of more sustainable methods to obtain necessary materials. For example, the BMW Group emphasizes that “its sustainability strategy is also relying more on resource-efficient closed-loop material cycles – with the aim of significantly increasing the percentage of secondary material in vehicles.”[9]

Unlike its peers, Tesla has not supported a DSM moratorium, leaving shareholders concerned that the Company is not addressing the serious reputational and regulatory risks of DSM. The supply of deep sea minerals is also legally, technologically, and financially insecure, making it expensive and risky for Tesla to incorporate deep sea sourced minerals into its supply chain.[10] DSM is also at odds with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.[11]

By committing to a global moratorium on DSM and an ocean mineral free supply chain, Tesla will join the ranks of Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Salesforce, Philips, and its EV peers by protecting a critical ecosystem and reaffirming its commitment to responsible sourcing.

BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request that Tesla commit to a moratorium on sourcing minerals from deep sea mining, consistent with the principles announced in the Business Statement Supporting a Moratorium on Deep Sea Mining.

SUPPORTING STATEMENT: If Tesla cannot so commit, shareholders request that the Board disclose its rationale and assess the Company's anticipated need for deep sea materials.

[1] https://climatesociety.ei.columbia.edu/news/rolling-deep-climate-change-and-deep-sea-ecosystems

[2] https://www.unepfi.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Harmful-Marine-Extractives-Deep-Sea-Mining.pdf; https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00165/full

[3] https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/deep-sea-mining

[4] https://www.fauna-flora.org/explained/depth-deep-seabed-mining-not-answer-climate-crisis/, p.17,26

[5] https://www.nature.com/articles/s44183-023-00016-8

[6] https://www.fauna-flora.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/fauna-flora-deep-sea-mining-update-report-march-23.pdf, p. 18

[7] https://savethehighseas.org/voices-calling-for-a-moratorium-governments-and-parliamentarians/

[8] https://www.stopdeepseabedmining.org/endorsers/

[9] https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0328790EN/bmw-group-protects-the-deep-seas

[10] https://ejfoundation.org/news-media/environmentalists-warn-investors-of-deep-sea-mining-risk; https://www.financeforbiodiversity.org/leading-financial-institutions-call-on-governments-to-not-permit-deep-sea-mining/

[11] https://dsm-campaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Precautionary-Principle-Deep-Sea-Mining.pdf

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