Social Licence Community of Practice: Building Trust Through Better Practice
What is social licence?
Background
‘Social licence to operate’ is traditionally a concept that reflects community acceptance or approval around the operations of an organisation and its developments. It 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 well underway but has met resistance from the communities being impacted in the process. The outcome? Project delays, increased costs to consumers and declining trust in the energy sector.
Our approach
Through lived experience research, together with our research partner KPMG, we’ve 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.
Building social licence for renewable infrastructure projects, Better Practice Social Licence Guideline
Purpose of the Social Licence Community of Practice
The purpose of this Community of Practice is to bring together people with boots on the ground in the energy transition to explore the challenges, learnings and opportunities to build and prioritise trust with landholders, communities, Traditional Custodians, Local Governments and other key 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
These sessions are open to anyone who would like to come along and learn. To attend these sessions on an ongoing basis, join the Community for Social Licence: Building trust through better practice. This will provide you with:
- Receive the meeting invitations directly in your calendar as soon as they are announced
- No 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.
Resource library + recorded sessions
In this session, we heard from 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.
Queensland Farmers’ Federation – The farmer perspective
Dr Laurie Dowling, Agriculture and Biosecurity Coordination Officer, Queensland Farmers’ Federation shared on:
- Why biosecurity is critical for famers
- Why there are increasing concerns (changes over the last 30 years)
- Pathways for entry (kinds of risks)
- Biosecurity responsibilities
AusNet Services – Biosecurity management in the transmission sector
Taree Lamplugh, Engagement Lead, AusNet Services who shared on:
- AusNet’s approach to biosecurity management
- Recent project experience
Tilt Renewables – Biosecurity management in the renewables sector
Daved Owen, Environmental Compliance Manager, Tilt Renewables who shared on:
- Tilt Renewables’ operating context
- Overview of biosecurity management and measures during project development and construction
- Biosecurity management during operations including compliance, O&M contractors, inductions
ExoFlare – Biosecurity management software solution
Andrea Koch and Chris Aitken, Exoflare who shared on:
- Jurisdictional responsibility around Emergency Animal Diseases (EAD)
- Record keeping and good practice between entities – farmers and businesses
- Compliance with place-based biosecurity management plans + movement permits
- ExoFlare solution and how it looks in practice
- Data sharing + understanding the network and benefits
Download Andrea + Chris’ presentation
Watch the recording
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.
