POLITICO Energy

Why the U.S. is a seabed mining laggard

Episode Summary

The United States is behind other countries in the race to mine minerals from the sea used to make climate-friendly technology. That’s because, for decades, several presidential administrations and the Senate have refused to ratify the ​​U.N.’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, which governs the use of ocean resources. POLITICO’s Jordan Wolman explains why the U.S. has never ratified that treaty and what that means for the Biden administration’s clean energy goals.

Episode Notes

The United States is behind other countries in the race to mine minerals from the sea used to make climate-friendly technology. That’s because, for decades, several presidential administrations and the Senate have refused to ratify the ​​U.N.’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, which governs the use of ocean resources. POLITICO’s Jordan Wolman explains why the U.S. has never ratified that treaty and what that means for the Biden administration’s clean energy goals.

 

Jordan Wolman is a sustainability reporter for POLITICO. 

Josh Siegel is an energy reporter for POLITICO. 

Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer. 

Raghu Manavalan is a senior editor for POLITICO audio.

Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO’s audio department.