The J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Distinguished Lecture

The Fourth Annual J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Distinguished Lecture on Global Climate Change and Energy Law

Clean Energy, Dirty Secrets: Latin America’s Struggles with Illegal Mining and Artificial Intelligence as a Potential Game-Changer for Environmental Justice

Tuesday, September 23, 2025 | 12 - 2:30 pm

Faculty Conference Center

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Please join the GW Law Environmental and Energy Law Program for its fourth annual Shapiro Distinguished Lecture. The lecture celebrates the work and leadership of Professor Arnold Reitze, who, founded GW Law's Environmental and Energy Law Program in 1970 and directed the program until his retirement in 2008. Professor Reitze is the author of seven books and more than 100 research studies and articles on environmental law. His most recent book is Air Pollution Control and Climate Change Mitigation Law (2010). The Shapiro Distinguished Lecture features globally recognized leaders to address pressing issues in climate change and energy law to inform and inspire the GW Law and greater campus community, the Washington, DC legal community, and the global community.

This year's lecture features Lyndon Winston Jay Huffington, a Colombian legal scholar and petitioner with more than a decade of experience in the public and private sectors of the mining-energy industry, specializing in regulatory frameworks, environmental sustainability, and the energy transition.His lecture explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), environmental law,climate justice, and energy policy with a particular focus on Latin America, offering an innovative legal perspective on how AI technologies are being deployed to monitor, prevent, and regulate illegal mining activities across fragile ecosystems and marginalized territories. 

Abstract

As the global race for clean energy accelerates, an important yet often overlooked dilemma has emerged. The growing demand for critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements, necessary for renewable technologies is driving a surge in illegal mining, particularly in Latin America. Rich in biodiversity and mineral resources, this region faces increasing environmental degradation, social conflict, and threats to Indigenous communities, all in the name of advancing the energy transition.

This lecture explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), environmental law, climate justice, and energy policy with a focus on Latin America. It offers a critical legal perspective on how AI technologies are being deployed to monitor, prevent, and regulate illegal mining activities across fragile ecosystems and marginalized territories.

The lecture addresses four key components: (1) the legal and ethical dimensions of using AI to combat illegal mining in Latin America, a region simultaneously pivotal to and endangered by the global energy transition; (2) the environmental and social costs of the energy transition, particularly in countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Brazil; (3) the role of international legal frameworks, trade agreements, and emerging traceability systems for critical minerals in promoting fair, climate-just supply chains; and (4) the risks of surveillance technologies, data misuse, and algorithmic biases in the context of environmental enforcement and protection of Indigenous rights.

The lecture highlights emerging opportunities for leveraging AI in a manner that strengthens transparency, equity, and environmental accountability, positioning Latin America as a testing ground for new models of resource governance. It also seeks to facilitate transnational legal dialogue on the hidden costs of the energy transition, digital ethics, and climate justice, underscoring how global climate goals must be compatible with the rights, resources, and realities of the Global South.

Speaker

Lyndon Winston Jay Huffington

Lyndon Winston Jay Huffington is a Colombian legal scholar and practitioner specializing in energy law, sustainability, and regulatory innovation, with over a decade of experience in the public and private sectors of the mining-energy industry. He is the Coordinator of the Energy Transition Observatory at Universidad Externado de Colombia, one of the leading platforms in Latin America dedicated to advancing research, policy dialogue, and community engagement in the field of energy transition. He also serves as a founding member and co-leader of the Colombian Network of Energy Transition Observatories, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across academia, government, and civil society.

Mr. Huffington holds an LLM in Law and Development from the University of Melbourne (Australia), funded by prestigious scholarships from Universidad Externado de Colombia, Colfuturo, and the International Bar Association (IBA). He also holds postgraduate specializations in Administrative Law and Mining-Energy Law from Universidad Externado de Colombia, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Economic, Business, and Legal Sciences at the University of Almería (Spain), as well as an MBA from the European Business School of Barcelona.

As a lecturer and invited expert, Mr. Huffington has delivered academic sessions and keynote presentations on energy governance, sustainability, and climate law at universities and forums in the United Kingdom (Durham University), Spain, Peru, Chile, and the Caribbean islands. He has served as an invited speaker in international conferences on climate justice, legal innovation, and green transition, contributing actively to regional and global energy dialogues.

His scholarly publications address the legal, environmental, and social dimensions of the energy and mining sectors, focusing on the integration of human rights, environmental safeguards, and inclusive development into regulatory practice. As a national and international consultant, Mr. Huffington has led projects supporting legal reform, community consultation mechanisms, and policy implementation in extractive and energy sectors. He is a member of the Institute on Mining, Energy, and Petroleum Regulation accredited by the Colombian Ministry of Science, and actively participates in the Ibero-American Association on Energy Law (ASIDE) and the Ibero-American Association of Regulation (ASIER).

His current research explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, environmental law, and resource governance, particularly the use of AI to monitor and mitigate illegal mining linked to critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements. His work addresses how AI can promote environmental transparency and regulatory compliance while navigating ethical, legal, and human rights challenges in fragile ecosystems and Indigenous territories.

As an academic, institutional leader, and global speaker, Mr. Huffington bridges the legal, technological, and societal aspects of the energy transition, contributing to transformative frameworks for sustainability, climate justice, and innovation in Latin America and beyond.

Fall 2024 Shapiro Distinguished Lecture