Nations Trust WNPS monthly lecture today explores climate change and AI

Thursday, 20 November 2025 04:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane

Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane will today deliver the Nations Trust WNPS monthly lecture on “Climate Change and Artificial Intelligence (AI): How Sustainable is AI?” at 6 p.m. at the Jasmine Hall, Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH).

Justice Tilakawardane is the Deputy Chair of the Judicial Integrity Group and is working with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to amend the commentaries in the Bangalore Principles with regard to judicial standards on ethics and conduct of Judges. She is a former consultant to the Sri Lanka Judicial Training Institute. She has worked as a national judicial educator for over 10 years, and an international consultant, expert, and educator on equality, human rights, gender rights, child rights, and environmental law for over 30 years.

In Sri Lanka, she trained Judges, especially newly appointed judges, on human rights law, gender rights and domestic violence law, child rights, environmental law, AI and the law, judicial decision-making, and judgement writing. She is on the international advisory board of the National Committee of the State Court (NCSC) of the US and has been an international expert on the modules on myth and gender stereotypes.

Justice Tilakawardane recently returned from Odisha, India, having delivered a keynote address and a plenary session on sustainability of AI and the environment, reflecting her continued engagement at the intersection of technology, ethics, and environmental sustainability.

Presented by the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) as part of its monthly lecture series, with the support of Nations Trust Bank, this free public lecture is open to all — members and non-members alike — offering expert insights on how AI and climate change intersect, in just 60 minutes.

AI adoption is rising sharply, reaching 72% in 2024, but so is its environmental cost. The surge in digitalisation is unfolding alongside record global heat, water stress, and resource depletion. AI’s footprint spans hardware production, model training, and disposal, contributing to emissions, water use and e-waste.

Data centres are the biggest pressure point, with AI-related energy demand expected to exceed Belgium’s annual electricity use by 2026. Water consumption could reach 6.6 billion cubic metres, straining regions already hit by drought.

AI hardware depends on minerals such as cobalt and lithium, often mined under damaging and inequitable conditions in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The trend points to the need for a more sustainable approach to ensure AI growth does not deepen the climate crisis.