Talia Jeanneret

Social licence to operate: An opportunity to enhance CSR for deeper communication and engagement

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate how the social licence to operate (SLO) concept is currently perceived and communicated during stakeholder engagement, as an extension of corporate social responsibility (CSR). To ensure an applied exploration of SLO, this paper focused on the wind industry. Design/methodology/approach – Telephone interviews were conducted with 18 wind industry representatives responsible for stakeholder engagement in Australia. Questions focused upon understanding of consultation and SLO, perceptions of SLO in practice, and experiences regarding community engagement. Findings – SLO is broadly understood by the case study wind industry representatives as majority acceptance held by community and other stakeholders, although no common definition was expressed. This indicates that the concept has not transferred clearly or directly to the wind industry. Despite this, the benefits of seeking an SLO through consultative and ongoing communication practices were recognised a...

CCS in the media: an analysis of international coverage

Internationally, the level of public awareness of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology remains low. The mainstream media have a salient influence in shaping the debate on CCSs implementation and its risks. This paper presents the results of analysis of print media coverage of CCS worldwide between August 2009 and June 2010. A total of 1138 articles from the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum were reviewed and analysed. The majority of these articles were balanced or neutral in tone and lacking in technical detail. Fifteen key themes were identified. Two of these emerged the most frequently across all sources: CCS pilot and demonstration projects, and funding issues. This suggests a pattern of media curiosity over how financial support for CCS is provided and what results are occurring at pilot and demonstration efforts. Cross-regional key risks included: Time, cost, and implementation issues; technical validity; and storage capacity issues.

Perspectives on successful coal seam gas well decommissioning

Decommissioning of wells and well pads (plugging and abandonment of the well and rehabilitation of the well pad) is an important activity in coal seam gas developments due to the large number of wells drilled and their co-location with other land uses. Successful decommissioning will need to be conducted in a way that is effective, efficient, complies with regulatory requirements and is socially acceptable. This study sought to understand the perspective of industry, government and local stakeholders on the decommissioning process and asked the question ‘what does successful decommissioning mean’? The study was conducted through workshops held in Camden, Chinchilla and Narrabri involving industry, government and local residents. All stakeholders agreed that the goal of successful decommissioning is to effectively have no legacy issues arising from the abandoned well or well pad, in perpetuity. However, there were differences in the confidence that stakeholders had in the process of achieving this outcome, largely based on the varying levels of understanding of well abandonment. This lack of confidence and understanding contributes to cross-cutting themes that emerged from the workshops. Local stakeholders expressed a strong desire for independent oversight and assessment of well abandonment processes, with increased transparency and access to information on abandoned wells in an understandable form. They also stated that long-term monitoring of wells post abandonment would assist in providing them with confidence that wells can be successfully decommissioned.