The surge in global demand for cobalt and other specialty metals for use in batteries, the automotive industry, building and construction is accelerating. The global rare earth elements market is currently forecast to reach USD 14.43 billion by 2025. And conventional terrestrial mining sources are proving increasingly difficult for companies to mine, coupled with rising social, political and environmental complexity. Recent innovations and technological advancements are making the deep ocean seabed more accessible, and these factors combined are triggering greater interest among private-sector actors and countries in ocean mining. The consequences of deep-sea mining are, however, not yet fully understood and could be irreversible.

The World Economic Forum is working with key partners to shed light on critical pieces that will be essential to understand and make informed decisions on how society is going to move forward in sustainable production and sustainable consumption of critical metals. The aim is to create a global dialogue to examine the outlook for the future of materials.

Friends of Ocean Action is supporting the World Economic Forum effort by convening stakeholders and raising the visibility of this urgent need among its community.