Sustaining social licence—the application of social impact assessment across the operational lifecycle

Most Australian resource companies, including those in the oil and gas sector, recognise that effective community engagement enhances their corporate reputation and underpins their social licence to operate. Industry-leading companies also understand the importance of assessing and managing the socio-economic impacts of their projects and operations with the same rigour as environmental, health and safety impacts. Some companies, however, fail to see the value of applying outcomes of robust socio-economic impact assessments (SEIA) to long-term business planning and performance monitoring; instead they use the approach as a one-off assessment process. This paper discusses the value of applying SEIA to inform business planning in a company’s social and environmental functions. The methods and techniques that are presented may assist companies in: developing an improved understanding of socially-related impacts, their significance and appropriate management strategies;documenting socio-economic contributions locally and regionally to illustrate higher order impacts and afford improved management of operational impacts;assessing community resilience, to inform, prioritise and structure community investment planning and capacity building;designing and structuring engagement to meet business objectives and reporting requirements;understanding communities, their engagement preferences, values, needs and opportunities to afford the development of more genuine relationships and partnerships; and,developing appropriate indicators to effectively monitor social impacts. Such outputs can assist in greater efficiencies, streamlining of assessment processes and improved relationships in the long-term. Where appropriate, this paper presents case studies to illustrate the application of such techniques and their value in meeting business, government and community needs and expectations.