Cases / Mining · Norway · 2025–2029
Norway postpones deep-sea mining licensing to 2029 in budget deal
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Norway's government postponed licensing for deep-sea mining in its waters until 2029 under a budget agreement. The prime minister described the move as a postponement rather than a permanent halt, so the future of the seabed remains open.
What?
Norway postponed licensing for deep-sea mining in its waters until 2029 through a budget agreement. UNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre)
Where?
Norwegian waters. UNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre)
When?
Reported in December 2025; the postponement runs until the end of the current parliamentary term, by 2029. UNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre)
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
The postponement was made as part of a budget agreement. UNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre)
How?
Licensing was deferred rather than permanently halted, according to the prime minister's description reported by Arctic Today.
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who
What happened
The record, in order.
In December 2025 Norway's government postponed deep-sea mining licensing until the end of the current parliamentary term, by 2029, through a budget agreement, UNRIC reported.
UN experts commended the decision, UNRIC reported.
Arctic Today reported in December 2025 that the halt was continuing and that the prime minister had called it a postponement, not a permanent halt.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: the Socialist Left Party halted licensing in return for budget support, and Norway opened about 280,000 square kilometres of Arctic area for mining in January 2024.
- Unclear Not stated: which companies, if any, had pending licence applications in Norwegian waters.
- None on record Not stated: whether the pause continues beyond 2029.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- UN experts: Norway's decision to postpone deep-sea mining licensing commendedUNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre) · 2025-12
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- Costa Rica payments for ecosystem services and forest recovery Costa Rica · 1997
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- Government of Norway (Government) — here: Government that postponed the licensing; there: Government that supported the exemption
- Fosen wind farm and Sámi reindeer herders Norway · 2016–2024
- Government of Norway (Government) — here: Government that postponed the licensing; there: Government
- Namibia landed thousands of tonnes of pilchard as bycatch under moratorium Namibia · 1994–2024
- Government of Norway (Government) — here: Government that postponed the licensing; there: Ran a 2024 independent biomass study
- Tropical Forest Forever Facility Brazil · 2025
- Government of Norway (Government) — here: Government that postponed the licensing; there: Pledged about 3 billion dollars (part conditional)