Environment & climate change

Quantifying social licence to operate around water use

We helped a multinational food and beverage company quantify their social licence to operate.

  • Challenge

    As part of its water stewardship strategy, the client needed to quantify the corporate reputational risk associated with its water use at over 80 global locations. As part of a wider goal to foster more positive community relations, the first step was to systematically assess all operating locations and prioritise those requiring greater engagement.

  • Solution

    We developed a framework to assess the factors that affect the company’s social licence to operate at each of its operating locations. By combining internal metrics with our proprietary water-related risk indices, we were able to measure the risk at each location.

  • Outcome

    The company was able to understand the key aspects required in obtaining and maintaining a social licence to operate. They were able to prioritise operating locations where effective engagement with local stakeholders could help address the shared water challenges at the catchment level.