The U.K. government announced on October 30 it would back a temporary suspension on supporting or sponsoring any exploitation licenses to mine metals from the sea floor until enough scientific evidence was available to understand the impact on ecosystems.

According to The Guardian, the announcement represents a change in the government’s previous stance in support of the emerging industry, after criticism from scientists, MPs and environmentalists.

The change puts the U.K. on a growing list of at least 20 countries, including Brazil, France, Germany, Sweden and Canada, that are calling for a pause on supporting commercial deep-sea exploration licenses, at least until the environmental effects of seabed exploitation are better understood. Even car manufacturers such as BMW and Volvo, and the car battery maker Samsung, have pledged not to use deep-sea minerals in vehicles.

On October 30, the U.K. environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, said a U.K.-based environmental science network on deep-sea mining would be launched, to gather data and help fill in gaps in evidence on the environmental impact of mining. 

The U.K. government holds two exploration licenses to extract metals from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It is among 14 countries sponsoring exploration or research contracts – the only type allowed so far – by companies intent on mining the deep sea. The others are China, Russia, South Korea, India, France, Poland, Brazil, Japan, Jamaica, Belgium, Nauru, Tonga and Kiribati.

Mining companies say that harvesting minerals, including copper, nickel and cobalt, from the ocean instead of land is cheaper and less environmentally damaging.