Key points
- Gerard Barron, DeepGreen’s chairman and CEO, addresses students at Imperial College Business School’s Centre for Climate Finance & Investment, citing a World Bank estimate that the green transition will require five times today’s metal production.
- He says land-based mining for one EV battery’s worth of metal disturbs 156 kg of land, destroys 570 kg of biomass and releases about 13,000 kg of CO2, while polymetallic nodules cut CO2 emissions over 90 percent and generate zero solid waste.
- DeepGreen holds three exploration licenses sponsored by Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga, has completed seven ocean-science cruises, and plans to spend about $65 million on its ocean science research program.
- The company has raised $150 million to date and says it needs another $250 million to reach production on Project Zero, its first system designed to lift 1 million tons of nodules.
