The social licence to operate: how to get it granted

Abstract

This extended abstract explains key issues associated with the social licence to operate, a concept recently developed to explain the tacit acceptance by the community of large development projects, particularly mining, oil and gas projects. It is essentially a concept characterised by an absence of protest, a tacit acknowledgement of the project’s presence or activity in the community, and an economic engagement by that community in the project’s activities and impacts. As such, it is difficult to measure positively; however, this extended abstract suggests that to achieve the negative milestone of getting and keeping the social licence, a project developer can address several issues: Educating your stakeholders. Building relationships with your stakeholders. Broadly defining your stakeholders. Not seeing the political tick of obtaining valid approvals as the end of the approvals process, but as the beginning of a new phase of stakeholder engagement. Keeping the approvals ministers informed but not involved. Experience suggests that state ministers in all jurisdictions would rather not adjudicate in favour of developers instead of stakeholders, particularly in relation to land acquisition for project footprints. Also, in a legal framework of continuous disclosure and keen press scrutiny, legal compliance can more often than not prove a short-term fix for matters requiring a longer-term focus. Strategies for obtaining land where the fallback is not a legal process, compulsory acquisition or ministerial intervention need to be more actively considered and developed. It is not so much beyond compliance, but enlarging the notion of compliance to encompass the expectations of governments, the community and a broad view of who the project’s stakeholders are. In this way, a social licence to operate can be granted.