#BetterTogether Landholder + Community Social Licence initiatives
#BetterTogether Landholder + Community Social Licence initiative is focused on the energy transition.
As Australia moves towards a renewable energy future, a growing number of agricultural landholders are being approached to host renewable energy infrastructure, including solar, wind and transmission on their land.
Our energy businesses recognise that these renewable energy projects, as well as the maintenance of existing infrastructure, can impact the agricultural operations, lives and livelihoods of agricultural landholders and communities. They also understand that they have a responsibility to recognise and minimise these impacts and work towards shared value outcomes for everyone.
To ensure that nobody is left behind, we are working in collaboration with the Ag Energy Taskforce and other landholder and community representatives on three key initiatives.
Our Initiatives
Better Practice Social Licence Guideline
The Better Practice Social Licence Guideline has been developed to build a shared understanding of the impacts and potential benefits associated with hosting energy transmission infrastructure for agricultural landholders; and provide practical social licence to operate (‘social licence’) guidance to mitigate negative impacts and prioritise shared value through the energy transition.
Ag + Energy Social Licence Roundtable
The Energy Charter hosts an Ag + Energy Social Licence Roundtable with leaders from the energy (including renewable developers) and agriculture sectors to discuss strategic emerging issues in the energy transition, identify what’s working and areas for continuous improvement.
Evaluating Transmission Undergrounding
This initiative aims to improve the experience of landholders and communities by providing greater transparency on how the viability of underground compared to overhead transmission designs are evaluated in the energy transition.
Landholder Engagement Training
Face-to-face training sessions have been held in Victoria and Queensland, with the purpose of supporting those responsible for working directly with impacted landholders on renewable energy projects to help them do their job well, while keeping themselves and the landholders physically and emotionally safe.
Wimmera Southern Mallee Collaboration
In January 2024, the Wimmera Southern Mallee Collaboration kicked off, bringing renewable energy and transmission organisations with projects in the region, as well as a number of other supporting organisations, together to design a collaboration framework.