Thursday 27 November

8.30-9.00        Welcome coffee

9.00-9.30        Opening speeches

• Damilola Olawuyi, Chair of the Academic Advisory Group (AAG) of the International Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL), Professor and UNESCO Chairholder on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
• Louis de Fontenelle, Director of the European Research Platform on Energy and Climate Law and Professor, UMR TREE, University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour, France
• Vicente López-Ibor Mayor, President of the European Federation of Energy Law Associations (EFELA)

9.30-10.00      Keynote speech: Critical Materials Geopolitics and economy on the global stage

K.C. Michaels, Legal Counsel at the International Energy Agency (IEA)

Session 1: State of play on Responsible Mining

10.00-11.15    State of play - Mining for the energy transition

Chair: Patrice Geoffreon, Professor of Economics, Centre for Geopolitics of Energy and Raw Materials, Paris Dauphine University

• State of play on mining and critical materials, Thabani Mlilo, Managing Director of Moahi Sustainable Solutions and Adjunct Professor, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• Learning from post-mining experiences in order to responsibly operate future mines - Gael Bellenfant, Environmental expert in mining and mine closure, BRGM, Orléans, France
• State of play on strategic and critical raw materials – Jean-François Gaillaud, Head of the mineral resources department, French Ministry of Ecological Transition – General Directorate for Planning, Housing and Nature, Paris, France

11.15-11.30    Coffee Break

11.30-12.30    Why is Responsible Mining necessary for the energy transition?

Chair: Thibaud Voïta, Energy Advisor, Jacques Delors Institute, Paris, France

• Responsible Mining for the Energy Transition: Why Upstream Local Community Engagement Cannot Be an Afterthought - Penda Diallo, Honorary Lecturer in Sustainable Mining, Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter / Responsible Mining and Community Engagement Adviser
• Is Responsible and Sustainable Deep Seabed Mining possible ? A legal perspective - Niki Aloupi, Professor of Public International Law, University Paris Panthéon-Assas / Member of the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority, France 

12.30-14.00    Lunch Break (for speakers only).

Session 2: What are the main challenges to integrate within the Responsible Mining framework?

14.00-15.30    How can security of supply be reconciled with socio-environmental concerns?

Chair: Damilola Olawuyi, Chair of the Academic Advisory Group of the International Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure Law, Professor and UNESCO Chairholder, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar

• Women’s mobility, livelihoods, and land dispossessions in the small-scale mining economy in Ghana - Elizabeth Nana Mbrah Koomson, Senior Lecturer, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
• Lessons from the conflict over the uranium and lithium mine projects in Spain - Iñigo Del Guayo, Professor in Administrative Law, Universidad de Almería, Spain
• The IRMA Standards : an equally-governed multi-stakeholder mechanism for more responsible mines - Pierre Petit de Pasquale, Standards Director, IRMA, France 

 15.30-15.45    Coffee Break.

 15.45-17.00    What outstanding challenges still need to be integrated within the Responsible Mining framework?

Chair: Luis Ferney Moreno Castillo, President of Asociación Iberoamericana de Derecho de la Energía

• Intergenerational Equity and the Rights of Future Generations in Subsurface Governance - Louis de Fontenelle, Director of the European Research Platform on Energy and Climate Law and the JPEC project, Professor, UMR TREE, University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour, France
• Solidarity & Commons - Hanri Mostert, holder of the DST/NRF SARChI Mineral Law in Africa and Professor of Private Law, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• Legal implications of a degrowth-guided Critical Raw Materials’ mining framework - Romain Mauger, Head of Legal Research Unit at the Iberian Centre for Research in Energy Storage (CIIAE), Spain (online).

Friday 28 November

9.00-9.30        Welcome coffee

9.30-10.00       Keynote speech – Integrating justice in Responsible Mining in international law

Lorenzo Cotula, Head of Programme Law, Economies and Justice, International Institute for Environment and Development, Edinburgh, Scotland (online)

Session 3:  Implementation – What legal instruments could be used to ensure Just and Responsible Mining?

10.00-11.15    Legal instruments and tools for Responsible Mining

Chair: Iñigo Del Guayo, Professor in Administrative Law, Universidad de Almería, Spain

• Legislative framing - the question of standard-setting - Ibrahim Sanogo, post-doctoral fellow, BRGM, France
• The Critical Minerals Act: New Markets, Governance and Conflicts – Sanja Bogojevic, Professor of Law, University of Oxford, United-Kingdom
• Social acceptability of Mining Projects: from Conflict to Consensus - Christophe Krolik, Professor of Law, Université Laval, Canada.

11.15-11.30         Coffee Break.   

11.30-12.30    Soft law instruments and tools for Responsible Mining

 Chair: Christophe Krolik, Law Professor, University of Laval, Canada

• The development of a French standard on Responsible Mining exploration - David Krupka, Head of Development, Engineering, Equipment, Materials, and Industry of the Future, AFNOR Group, France
• Local content: an opportunity for a responsible/ sustainable and profitable mining – Stéphane Brabant, Senior Partner of Trinity International AARPI, Paris, France

12.30-14.00    Lunch Break (for speakers only).

14.00-15.15    Foresight – desirable developments for a Just Transition: how should international and transnational mining law work?

Chair: Louis de Fontenelle, Director of the European Research Platform on Energy and Climate Law and Professor, UMR TREE, University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour, France

• The need for an international treaty on minerals and mining - Alexandra Harrington, Chair, IUCN WCEL Plastic Pollution Task Force, Lecturer in Law, Lancaster University, United-Kingdom
• Florencia Heredia, Senior Partner of Allende C Brea, Head of the Natural Resources & Energy practice, Buenos Aires, Argentina (online)
• Reframing Mining Law through the lens of the Commons - Michel Jebrak, Professor Emeritus, Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada 

15.15-15.45    Closing remarks and announcement of the IECL Forum 2026

Olivier Vidal, Director of the "Subsurface: a Common Good" Priority Research and Equipment Program (PEPR)

Luis Ferney Moreno Castillo, President of Asociación Iberoamericana de Derecho de la Energía – ASIDE

Download it here : Final Agenda - IECL 2025