‘Social license to operate’: a relevant term in Northern European mining?

CEO letters: Social license to operate and community involvement in the mining industry

“…The strong relationship between North American countries and higher employee participation in communities might be explained by culture (De‐Miguel‐Molina, de‐Miguel‐Molina M, Segarra‐Oña M, & Peiró‐Signes A, ) or by the level of development of the countries (Einolf, ) . However, the case of Australia and the relationship with investment in infrastructure might be explained by the institutional theory (Koivurova et al, ; Vashchenko, ) and the power of indigenous communities, which make firms more cautious about SLO (Cheshire, ; Prno & Slocombe, ; Sing, ). Although results indicate that location matters when operations are undertaken in the richest countries, Table shows that investments increased in the majority of regions when the two periods were compared.…”

“…What factors influence the implementation of SLO? Considering what the literature has stated about CSR, it could be suggested that the participation of companies in communities to achieve SLO is determined by a firm’s resources and situation (Catalão‐Lopes, Pina, & Branca, ; Gao & Hafsi, ), the locations where mining companies operate (Prno & Slocombe, ) and the CSR guidelines related to the mining industries (Koivurova et al, ; Ranängen & Lindman, ). With respect to these guidelines, over the last few years, CSR reporting has evolved in the mining industry and several CSR principles and guidelines set out by international organisations have been incorporated into their reports.…”

Norway

“…There was little mention of social licence (Koivurova et al 2015), again other than Statoil, possibly for two reasons: first, there is no real community demand to have the power to confer a social licence on a company, and, second, established internal standards and conditions (e.g. The rest of the companies subject to EIA seem to comply with the requirements but any voluntary best practices are rare.…”

Canada

“…In an era where international law increasingly empowers indigenous peoples 141 and the need for community approval is gaining currency throughout the Arctic, 142 observing how countries such as Canada have grappled for decades with these issues provides valuable information for the Nordic countries, who are now starting to confront the same situations. This chapter contributes to both of these goals by elucidating the mechanisms that make these unique northern systems operate well.…”