The seabed authority has set aside large parts of the Pacific Ocean floor into what they call reserved areas that are specifically for developing nations. The rich countries have done initial exploratory work and concluded there's lots of metals down there. Data is supposed to be confidential and not shared with anyone outside of developing nations or theseabed authority itself.
The adoption of electric cars has been hailed as an important step in curbing the use of fossil fuels and fighting climate change. There is a snag, however: such vehicles require around six times as many metals as their gasoline-powered counterparts.
A giant storehouse of the necessary resources sits at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. But retrieving them may, in turn, badly damage the environment.
Guest: Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.
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