Kieren Moffat

Constructing the Meaning of Social Licence

Large companies must increasingly satisfy not only the conditions of their formal licences, but also the concerns and expectations of host communities and broader society. This has led to the emergence, particularly in the minerals industry, of the notion of “social licence”, an interdiscursive term whose meaning is rarely interrogated. We use textual analysis to critically investigate the construction of social licence discourse in minerals companies’ sustainable development reports and at a recent industry conference. We find that the texts mystify the nature of agency, and privilege processes that maintain existing power relations. Through their partial accommodation of heterogeneous discourses, the texts downplay tensions and conflicts. We conclude that there is a need to reconceptualise the nature of company–stakeholder relationships through a more collaborative, dialogic and reflexive process, avoiding the binary state implied by the term licence.

An expanded role for the mining sector in Australian society

Abstract Questions over the role of mining in the Australian economy and society have gained increasing public scrutiny in recent years. In this paper we consider whether the role of mining in Australian society has changed with the recent mining boom. The paper draws attention to four key areas. The first is the economics of mining, where a rise in commodity values has made mining more profitable. Mining now dominates Australian exports more than in previous booms. The second area is the scale of mining operations, which have grown substantially, reflecting unprecedented investment. The third area is the degree to which the effects of resource extraction extend to surrounding areas and distant urban centres through long distance commuting. Finally, we consider the centrality of the mining sector in public life: attention to mining in the media and encroachment on other land uses, and we look for evidence of changes in public acceptance of the sector. In conclusion we argue that the role of the mining sector in Australian society and economy has indeed changed. The changes in terms of trade and the scale of mining have made the resource sector so important in Australia that increased impact in public life is unavoidable.

Social licence to operate and impact assessment

This article reviews historical and recent developments in the understanding and employment of ‘social licence to operate’ (SLO), particularly as it relates to impact assessment (IA). It canvasses the ways in which concerns about SLO are beginning to overlap with or be incorporated into IA processes. In so doing, the article has two aims. First, it establishes a research agenda for SLO in IA by posing a series of timely, critical questions to assist IA practitioners grappling with increased proponent and community concerns about an SLO. Second, the article reviews the contributions to this Special Issue of Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal and the ways in which they mark an important touchstone from which the IA profession may consider, more formally, the growing implications of SLO for the field. In particular, a future research agenda for SLO and IA should consider: measuring and monitoring SLO, tensions and synergies between SLO and IA, potential of SLO to improve stakeholder engagement and proponent accountability and the possible role of SLO in regulation linked to IA.

Climate change adaptation in Australian mining communities: comparing mining company and local government views and activities

Effective climate change adaptation in mining communities is reliant on action by both local authorities and mining operations. This article reports the findings of two surveys conducted in late 2010, with Australian mining companies and local government authorities respectively, investigating their perceptions and activities related to climate change adaptation. The research identified the main types of weather and climate-related impacts experienced in the past and expected under future climate conditions for the two groups. There were significantly differing levels of concern about weather and climate-related impacts between the two types of organisations. Mining company respondents reported lower levels of severity of impact from both past and (expected) future weather events, as well as lower levels of belief in climate change and of adaptation activities to prepare for it. Interestingly, mining companies generally reported less concern about future impacts than those experienced in the past, suggesting discounting of risks due to climate change scepticism. The article reports on a range of factors relevant to adaptation in mining communities, including perceived barriers, collaboration and further information needs. The research findings are discussed in the context of other recent research on climate change adaptation by Australian organisations and studies of mining industry adaptation in other countries.

The Language of Science and Social Licence to Operate

Social licence to operate (SLO) is an informal agreement that infers ongoing acceptance of an industrial or energy project by a local community and the stakeholders affected by it. Negotiation of SLOs centrally implicates language and communication, including scientific language and concepts. We first review the literature about the definition and communicative features of SLOs, and their relation to scientific communication. We describe communication accommodation theory and the ways that it can help understand (un)successful SLO negotiation, and describe examples of texts that show accommodative or nonaccommodative language around SLOs. We summarize some results which help indicate different ways of accommodating communities in the negotiation of SLOs. Finally, we describe a research agenda on communication accommodation and SLOs, in the service of improving their impact on energy, the environment, and the transfer of science.

What makes stakeholder engagement in social licence “meaningful”? Practitioners’ conceptualisations of dialogue

ABSTRACT Social licence to operate (SLO) acknowledges the need for extractive industries to move beyond regulatory requirements into social accountability, which requires engagement between companies and their stakeholders. Engagement efforts point to dialogue as being integral for increasing the inclusivity of, for example, land-use decision-making in rural governance. Since little research explores what constitutes “constructive dialogue”, this research empirically explored how dialogue is conceptualised by expert engagement practitioners in SLO. Practitioners conceptualised constructive dialogue as both a threshold for, and an indicator of, social licence. This finding aligns with academic theorisation of dialogue wherein dialogue represents a collaborative form of engagement core to the development of SLO. Practitioners suggested dialogue is most commonly, and potentially problematically, operationalised as a goal-oriented process, aligning with previous work suggesting a “spectrum of dialogue” from strategic to learning-oriented. Contextual realities, such as time and costs, define where implemented dialogue practice ultimately falls. Analysis of practitioners’ views suggests industry and academia may consider future engagement practice and research in light of the centrality of reciprocal dialogic processes for increasing the inclusivity of SLO processes.

The Interaction of Economic Rewards and Moral Convictions in Predicting Attitudes toward Resource Use

When people are morally convicted regarding a specific issue, these convictions exert a powerful influence on their attitudes and behavior. In the current research we examined whether there are boundary conditions to the influence of this effect. Specifically, whether in the context of salient economic rewards, moral convictions may become weaker predictors of attitudes regarding resource use. Focusing on the issue of mining we gathered large-scale samples across three different continents (Australia, Chile, and China). We found that moral convictions against mining were related to a reduced acceptance of mining in each country, while perceived economic rewards from mining increased acceptance. These two motivations interacted, however, such that when perceived economic benefit from mining was high, the influence of moral conviction was weaker. The results highlight the importance of understanding the roles of both moral conviction and financial gain in motivating attitudes towards resource use.