The overall industry social license for the Canadian Oil Sands sector is under attack internationally and domestically. This piece explores that challenge and the role that government action and inaction has played in it. To keep updated on postings and events go to www.csrtraininginstitute.com and sign up for the newsletter. If interested the CSR Knowledge Centre http://bit.ly/CSRknowledge contains a series of short, pragmatic articles on CSR Strategy, Management and related areas.

1. Helping business to
serve shareholders AND society
SIMULTANEOUSLY
-by Wayne Dunn
Canadian Oil Sands
the lesser of several evils
www.csrtraininginstitute.com/knowledge-centre

2. Canadian Oil Sands
the lesser of several evils
Clumsy government support of
Canadian Oil Sands industry
is hindering the industry’s
development and risking its social
license
Which is better for the planet
Originally published in
Triple Pundit - http://bit.ly/1NgKIkJ
Oil sands with an environmental impact
that can be improved?
Or
Middle East energy with a conflict and
human rights impact that is a lot more
difficult to deal with.
If Canada wants the oil sands industry to develop and thrive, and
produce the economic value and benefits we all need, then we need
to rethink both industry environmental regulation AND Canada’s
overall approach to climate change and global environmental
issues.

3. Page 02
If not, the industry risks losing an increasingly tenuous social license
and the Canadian economy risks losing tens of thousands of jobs
and tens of billions of future investment.
And the world risks trading carbon intensive energy for war, strife
and human abuse intensive energy.
The Canadian Oil Sands industry is under global pressures from
social and environmental fronts. And this at a time of plunging global
prices that is eroding the industry’s financial license.
Foreign governments, markets, NGOs, celebrities and others are
actively protesting the operation and expansion of the industry,
focused mainly on the carbon cost that is embedded in the energy
from carbon intensive production and processing methods.
It is interesting that these groups are targeting Canadian oil sands
production when energy from other areas like the Middle East comes
with unacceptable levels of human rights, conflict, military and other
costs.
Few seem to be doing the calculus that would objectively compare
the socio-environmental cost of Canadian oil sands and Middle East
energy production. I strongly suspect that it is much easier to address
the carbon and environmental impact of the oil sands than it is to
address the human rights, conflict and military costs of Middle East
energy.
I also suspect that part of the reason that the carbon calculus vs
the human rights and conflict calculus isn’t done is (at least partly)
because Canadian government ‘support’ and Canada’s emergence
as a climate change dawdler has helped to make the oil sands an
easy international target.
Canadian Oil Sands
the lesser of several evils

4. Page 03
Despite, or as a result of, a national government and regulator that
has been a strong cheerleader for nearly ten years, the industry is in
much difficulty. It is facing global activism and opposition and has
not been able to get its production to global markets. Pipelines are
stalled and market access looks increasingly difficult.
These are directly related and have created an, at best, very tenuous
social license for the industry. The Canadian government, who is also
the national regulator, has supported the industry in ways that have
undermined its environmental credibility globally.
Recent revelations in the Guardian (Canadian government spent
millions on secret tar sands advocacy) put more strain on the
government’s role as an objective regulator and give fuel to opponent’s
arguments.
A robust industry requires technical and economic viability as well
as some level of societal acceptance. An industry with international
and global markets requires societal acceptance; requires an industry
social license.
While individual projects and companies can, and do, develop their
own project or brand level social license, many industries also need
some level of industry social license.
In order to achieve societal acceptance (social license) industry must
be seen to be making a net positive contribution to society and have
an acceptable environmental risk and cost. Notice I said ‘be seen to
be making a net positive contribution’. Perception is reality.
The Oil Sands is a carbon intensive industry and carbon and climate
change are increasingly critical global issues.
In the case of the Canadian Oil Sands there is a public perception
(domestic and global) that the industry is a global environmental bad-
boy.
Canadian Oil Sands
the lesser of several evils

5. Page 04
Canadian government’s support for the industry, including
considerable tinkering with environmental regulation, coupled with
the carbon intensive nature of the industry, has given industry critics
plenty of ammunition and credibility.
Canada’s increasing laggardness on the global climate change file
has further eroded the perceived credibility of our environmental
regulatory system, and, as a direct consequence, the trust that the
Canadian and global public has in the environmental performance of
key industries such as the Oil Sands.
If Canada wants to see the socio-economic benefits of a socially and
environmentally responsible oil-sands industry it needs to start by
rethinking how it is supporting the industry and how it is engaging in
the global climate change issue.
It may be counter-intuitive, but more stringent and credible
environmental regulations will help the industry rather than hurt it.
And, hopefully, force opponents to do the hard, but important work of
comparing the socio-environmental costs of energy from Canada’s oil
sands with energy from the conflict ridden Middle East.
I suspect that comparison would favour Canada’s oil sands and also
push them to better address their carbon intensity - and at the same
time take a small bit of fuel from the Middle East tinderbox.
Canadian Oil Sands
the lesser of several evils

6. Below are some recent articles and publications on Corporate Social
Responsibility and stakeholder engagement that you may find interesting.
Mining Schools Hi Tech in CSR
CSR SWOT
discover risk, value and more
Eleven strategies
for maximizing value from CSR
CSR in Budget Crunch Times
12 strategies for success
Multi-sector CSR Partnerships
Natural Partnerships – Unnatu-
ral Partners
From Pariah to Exemplar
Applying the 6 best practices
Engaging Internal Stakeholders
Seven proven strategies
CSR Communications
Eleven mistakes to avoid
Stakeholder Engagement
Six best practices
Creating a CSR Program
in eight self-serving steps
Let’s be honest:
Internal CSR Communication
Sucks!
CSR Metrics:
You can’t measure temperature
with a speedometer
Stakeholder Engagement
Five common mistakes
CSR Value Continuum
A unique perspective on Shared
Value
Smarter CSR Budgets
8 steps to connect budget to
value
28 Expert tips
On stakeholder engagement
Don’t be an Altruistic Angel
Be transparent about what’s in it
for you
13 Mistakes that prevent & destroy
Multi-sector CSR partnerships
NHL Sustainability Report
Good but incomplete.
Four Strategies for
Local Content Success

7. Professor Dunn brings a practical and realistic approach to CSR, blending theory and
practice to develop realistic models and approaches to address real-world challenges
Dr. Ellis Armstrong
Former CFO, BP Exploration
…coherent, thoughtful, stimulating and insightful… state of the art! The network of
participants from the public, private and civil society sectors was incredible, some of
the leading experts in the field.
Kojo Busia, Ph. D.
Snr. Mineral Sector Governance Advisor
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa/UNECA
…pragmatic blend of theory and practice, very applicable to helping organizations
meet real-world challenges.
Frank McShane
Manager, Corporate Responsibility Policy and Ethics, Talisman Energy
… readily available to provide support to organizations like Amref that are seeking
partnerships, and looking to bring about positive change in a collaborative and concrete
way. Wayne and the CSR Training Institute helped us to identify and connect with
potential partners and are always available. The training, the expertise, the network
and the overall support are world-class.
Onome Ako
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Amref Health Africa
“The program enhanced the CSR knowledge and strategic skills of our Kosmos Energy
Ghana team, and offered the participants a platform for networking with professionals
from other organizations across Africa and Ghana.”
Reg Manhas
Sr VP Kosmos Energy
Very much helpful Wayne; some of the tips and questions you gave will be an extremely
helpful guide in the process of developing a CSR Strategy for my company.
Emmanuel Aubynn
Regional Social Responsibility Manager, Newmont Africa
The CSR Program was excellent. A key aspect of my work is to encourage and support
private sector development that contributes to Ghana’s overall socio-economic
growth. The learning that I and my staff take away from attending this program will
help us immensely with this responsibility. I highly recommend this program.
Hon. Rashid Pelpuo (MP)
Minister of State for Private Sector Development and Public Private Partnerships
(Ghana)
New and exciting insights into the theory and practice of CSR… great faculty and
participants, very diversified. An excellent learning experience, very practical and
useful. I’m very happy I was able to participate in it.
Hon InusahFuseini (MP)
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources (Ghana)
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT OUR WORK

8. Should Business Serve
Helping business to serve society and
shareholders, SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Should Business Serve
WAYNE DUNN, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER
SHAREHOLDERS?
SOCIETY?
IT SHOULD SERVE BOTH.
Wayne Dunn is President & Founder of the CSR Training Institute and
Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill. He’s a Stanford Sloan Fellow
with a M.Sc. in Management from Stanford Business School.
He is a veteran of 20+ years of award winning global CSR and
sustainability work spanning the globe and covering many industries
and sectors including extensive work with Indigenous Peoples in
Canada and globally. His work has won major international awards
and has been used extensively as ‘best-practice’ by industry and
academia.
He’s also worked oil rigs, prospecting, diamond drilling, logging,
commercial fishing, heavy equipment operator, truck driver and
underwater logging, done a couple of start-ups and too many other
things to mention.
Wayne’s career includes big successes, and spectacular failures. He
hopes he’s learned equally from both.
www.csrtraininginstitute.com