Overview

• Greenpeace activists have been ordered by a Dutch court to leave a deep-sea mining exploration ship, Coco, in the Pacific Ocean.
• The Metals Company, which runs the ship, accused the protesters of endangering the crew and breaking international law.
• Greenpeace began the protest a week ago to prevent the ship from deploying equipment in the water and to urge the company to leave.
• The protest comes amid growing international demand for critical minerals found on the seafloor and increasing calls for more research into the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining.
• The Metals Company has been conducting exploratory research in the Pacific since 2011 and plans to use data from their latest expedition to apply for mining in 2025.