Sustainable Development Goal 14 relates to the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Goal 12 has numerous objectives that are relevant to what we do:
- Reduce marine pollution, including from land based activities, marine debris and nutrient pollution
- Protect and restore marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts
- Reduce ocean acidification
- Increase scientific knowledge, research and technology for ocean health
- Implement and enforce international sea law
A summary of our proposed contributions to Goal 14 is provided below:
- We will work with our suppliers to develop technologies that are based on closed loop supply chains and recyclable materials, to reduce the volume of waste to landfill
- Our design team will work to implement technology that does not require the use of large volumes of hydrocarbons in the subsea environment, to minimize the risk of spills to the marine environment
- We will monitor and report our waste management strategies, and waste volumes, both in our on-shore and off-shore operations, and will ensure all off-shore operations comply with the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)
- We will comply with all domestic and international laws, including the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) at all times, and will transparently report any incidents or breaches of any relevant domestic or international legislation, including the outcome of any investigations
- We will work with our host countries to ensure any infrastructure developed by Impossible Metals (such as port, mineral processing and energy generation infrastructure) is designed to minimize or eliminate waste production and the potential for offsite impacts, spills and pollution
- We continue to develop our bioextraction technology, which we believe will minimize or eliminate the generation of waste from mineral processing. In an industry where this waste has historically been disposed of in ocean environments, we aim to deliver mineral processing technology that can not only prevent pollution from our operations, but can be applied to existing terrestrial mining operations to further reduce impacts of pollution to the ocean from the minerals industry
- We do, and will continue to, share transparently any scientific advancements in relation to marine science, ocean health and the ecosystems in which the seabed minerals are located, including the support of, and collaboration with, host nation educational and research institutions.
As we develop a presence in host nations, and scale up our collaboration efforts, we will develop a clear pathway to the implementation of these goals, including specific time-bound objectives. We anticipate commencing reporting against specific objectives as part of the 2023 annual report.