Target 14.c: Implement the law of the sea
Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of 'The future we want'
Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
Why shareholder democracy is helpful
Implementing the law of the sea is a matter for states, but corporate actors are visibly on both sides. Business interests including the American Petroleum Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce have supported US ratification of UNCLOS. In 2025 The Metals Company announced it would stop seeking licenses through the International Seabed Authority and instead applied for a US commercial recovery permit under domestic law. The Authority is widely regarded as the sole body authorized to regulate deep-sea mining in international waters. Meanwhile 64 companies and financial institutions signed a business statement for a moratorium. Owners of mining, offshore energy and bank shares can press companies to operate only within UNCLOS institutions. States implement the law, so owners help at the margin.
How this was scoredHelpful
Helpful. Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- Advancing the National Interests of the United States: Ratification of the Law of the Sea, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2012-05-25
- France's Macron joins growing chorus calling for deep-sea mining ban, Mongabay, 2025-06
- Companies and Finance, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, 2025-06-18
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Signed a statement of 36 financial institutions to governments asking them to postpone deep seabed mining permits, and began engaging two portfolio companies running seabed mining pilots.
Filed shareholder proposals at Tesla and General Motors on deep-sea mined minerals, the first such proposals to reach a vote.
General Motors Shareholders Support First-Ever Deep-Sea Mining Proposal, As You Sow, 2024-06
1 campaign on record
Postpone approval of seabed dredging permits until the environmental, social and economic risks of deep sea mining are fully understood.
Result: Signed by 36 financial institutions
Robeco chose engagement over exclusion and said it would start engaging two portfolio companies involved in seabed mining pilots.
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is UN Sustainable Development Goals's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.