The race is on to find the minerals we need to enable the world's transition to clean energy, and vast reserves of those minerals lie untouched at the bottom of the Pacific.
But, while mining them could fuel our green future, scientists warn it risks catastrophic damage to our oceans.
Enter Australian entrepreneur Gerard Barron, the founder and CEO of The Metals Company.
He wants to extract potato-sized balls called polymetallic nodules from the seabed and believes they could be worth trillions of dollars.
His project has gained political momentum after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order supporting seabed mining, even in international waters.
The United Nations affiliated agency responsible for regulating the exploitation of the world's deep-sea resources says mining under US permits would be unlawful and undermines global cooperation.
With no clear rules in place, and the stakes higher than ever, the future of deep-sea mining is now a global flashpoint.
Reporter Mark Willacy travels from Jamaica to Tonga to Washington D.C. to investigate the battle over who controls the ocean, who profits from its resources, and what the world could stand to lose.
Race to the Bottom is a stunning film that reveals a growing divide between political ambition, corporate interests and environmental responsibility.
Race to the Bottom, reported by Mark Willacy and produced by Mary Fallon, goes to air on Monday 8 September at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
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