Abstract
In its broadest sense, the term Social Licence to Operate (SLO) refers to community acceptance of industry operations. SLO is increasingly used in an explicitly moral way, implying that industry operations should have community acceptance (Cooney 2017). On this view, whether the operations are acceptable (an ethical question) depends on whether the operations are accepted by key communities (a descriptive question).This Practitioner Summary explains that an SLO which is built on genuine engagement, institutional integrity and ethical practice (Authentic SLO) is most likely to protect interests, mitigate harm, and produce satisfying outcomes for both community stakeholders and industry.