Social Licence Community of Practice: Building Trust Through Better Practice
What is social licence?
‘Social licence to operate’ is a concept that reflects community acceptance or approval around the operations of an organisation and its developments.
The concept of a ‘social licence to operate’ emerged in the late 1990s, as affected communities and governments required the mining industry to increase its focus on social obligations and corporate social responsibility programs. It is now considered a key condition for many other industries, including in the energy sector.
Establishing social licence is not simple, is easily lost and difficult to re-gain. The energy transition in Australia is underway but at times has met resistance from the communities being impacted in the process, due to a lack of trust of energy businesses. This results in project delays and increased costs to energy consumers.
Building social licence for renewable infrastructure projects, Better Practice Social Licence Guideline
Our research partner KPMG identified that the key factors influencing social licence are:
- Trust from the community
- Genuine engagement
- Acknowledging and managing impacts
- Delivering benefits to affected communities
- Being accountable.
Social licence exists on a spectrum and is dynamic. It can be weakened and strengthened by the actions of businesses and communities at any point within a project lifecycle.
Purpose of the Social Licence Community of Practice
The purpose of this Community of Practice is to bring together professionals delivering the energy transition to explore the challenges, learnings and opportunities to build and prioritise trust with landholders, communities, Traditional Custodians and other stakeholders. We will do this through topical presentations and discussions exploring the themes of engaging meaningfully, managing impacts, realising benefits and being accountable.
How to get involved
Join the Community
If you would like to attend these sessions on an ongoing basis then join the Community for Social Licence: Building trust through better practice. When you join you will:
- Receive the meeting invitations directly in your calendar as soon as they are announced
- Not need to register for individual sessions
- Have the opportunity to provide feedback and input into session format and topics.
Register for individual sessions
If you would prefer to register for individual Community of Practice sessions, keep an eye on this page and Energy Charter news for when registrations go live for upcoming sessions.
Register now: Strengthening biosecurity in a higher-risk environment
In this session, we will hear from industry experts and boots on the ground to better understand biosecurity management in today’s high-risk environment. With threats like bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease and other emerging biosecurity risks, it’s more important than ever to elevate how we protect farms and projects throughout the energy transition.
Hear from four speakers across agriculture, renewable energy and transmission operations who will share case studies and better practice solutions, including:
- Dr Laurie Dowling, Agriculture and Biosecurity Coordination Officer, Queensland Farmers Federation
- Taree Lamplugh, Engagement Lead, AusNet Services
- Daved Owen, Sustainability & Environmental Advisor, Tilt Renewables
- Andrea Koch and Chris Aitken Exoflare
What to expect:
- First-hand experience managing biosecurity on the farm
- Insights on maintaining biosecurity across energy networks How renewable projects tackle biosecurity risks
- Innovative approaches for stronger, smarter biosecurity management
📆 Date: Wednesday 27th November
🕛 Time: 12:00 – 1:30pm AEDT
Want to know more?
If you would like to learn more about this Community of Practice, or upcoming sessions, please reach out to Martine Holberton, Director, Renewables or Heather Wagland, Director, Energy Transition.
