CIL Research Fellow S. Nivedita participated in the “Subsurface Futures: Extractives, Critical Minerals, and Decarbonization” symposium, held from 21–23 October 2025 in Laramie, Wyoming, USA. This international symposium brought together participants from across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa to explore the social, spatial, and legal implications of subsurface transformations in the energy sector, and to discuss what a new social contract for subsurface exploitation might look like. The symposium was organised by the University of Wyoming, School of Energy Resources, College of Law and Center for Global Studies together with the University of Pau and the Pays de L’adour (UPPA).

Nivedita presented as part of a panel on Regional Approaches to Resource Acquisition, on behalf of herself and her co-author, CIL Senior Research Fellow Mohammad Hazrati. Their presentation, titled “Governing Critical Minerals in ASEAN: Legal and Institutional Pathways for a Just Energy Transition,” shared preliminary findings on the legal and institutional opportunities and challenges that ASEAN faces in balancing critical mineral supply security with environmental, social, and human rights protections amid rising global demand for energy transition materials. They advocated for the development of an ASEAN eco-social contract to guide the extraction of critical energy transition minerals.