Tesla and General Motors have been warned of the potential catastrophic impacts of battery materials sourced from deep sea mining.
Other electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers including BMW, Volvo, Volkswagen, Rivian and Renault have already committed to a global moratorium.
Shareholders have filed resolutions urging Tesla and GM to join the pledge to keep their supply chains out of the deep sea.
Danielle Fugere, president and general counsel of shareholder activist organisation As You Sow, said ecosystems are at risk and shareholders are raising the alarm.
"The risks of deep sea mining cannot be understated, especially at an industrial scale, and companies should be prepared to act with extreme caution lest they cause irreversible harm," she said.
Ms Fugere said a commitment or clarification on deep sea mining from Tesla and GM would send a signal to shareholders, consumers and the industry that they acknowledge sustainability matters as vehicle electrification accelerates.
As business leaders, financiers and activists gather at Davos for the annual World Economic Forum, biodiversity protection and sustainability are on the agenda.
The demand for new sources of critical minerals is expected to surge as cars, buses, trains and heavy industry go electric.
For example, Australia's neighbour Nauru wants to extract rare earth metals to gain from the green energy transition. Sea-floor robots could gather potato-sized nodules of vital materials.
But the shareholder resolutions warn the deep sea plays a crucial role in regulating the climate as one of the planet’s biggest carbon sinks for absorbing carbon dioxide.
Mining this underexplored and complex area for battery-related minerals would cause irreversible damage, jeopardise food supples and could permanently destroy invaluable areas of natural carbon storage, according to the filing.
Removing nodules of minerals removes habitat and dredging "obliterates seafloor life and releases sediment plumes laced with toxic metals that poison marine food chains", one of the resolutions said.
Shareholders say they are concerned Tesla and GM are not addressing the serious reputational and regulatory risks.
The supply of deep sea minerals is also legally, technologically, and financially insecure, making it expensive and risky to incorporate deep sea sourced minerals into its supply chain, shareholders warn.
Tesla and GM have been contacted for comment.
By committing to a global moratorium on deep sea mining and an ocean mineral-free supply chain, they would join the ranks of Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Salesforce, Philips and EV peers.
