The term ‘social licence to operate’ is well known in the mining and minerals industry having been used for close to two decades. It conjures up ideas of David and Goliath battles – small town communities staging resistance against powerful multinational companies.

But what exactly is a social licence to operate (SLO)? Why is it being picked up by more and more industries? Is it really social? And just what kind of ‘licence’ is it?

Enter the energy transformation: what role does SLO have to play in facilitating the acceptance and adoption of renewables and other technologies necessary to the energy transition? How can we make the energy transformation just and fair?

Join us to hear from a panel of experts discussing social licence issues including:

• A just and equitable energy transition - what can be done to ensure that, in the energy transition, SLO is genuinely meaningful and useful to communities?
• King Island case study: community opposition to a wind development that ended up in court.
• Our Indigenous community and mega-scale renewable energy development. Are they simply the community affected by the development or can and should they be co-owners?

Agenda

5.30pm   Welcome

5.35pm   Keynote speaker Associate Professor Sara Bice, Crawford School of Public Policy and ANU Energy Change Institute Executive Member

6.05pm   Panel discussion moderated by Dr Igor Skryabin, ANU Energy Change Institute

• Associate Professor Janet Hunt, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
• Dr Rebecca Colvin, Climate Change Institute, ANU
• Andrew Dyer, National Wind Farm Commissioner

6.30pm Q&A

7.00pm Refreshments and networking

7.30pm Close

This event is part of 'Energy Conversations', a series of ongoing public events, run by the ANU Energy Change Institute and the Canberra branch of the Australian Institute of Energy (AIE).