Abstract
This paper summarises the process and findings of a recent Social Baseline Study (SBS) that four companies recently undertook jointly in Baffin Bay, Greenland. It explains how the companies came to the decision to join forces on the SBS a joint study and describes the one year process.
The majority of the paper is devoted to advantages and disadvantages of a joint approach. Examples of advantages were less stakeholder fatigue, consistency of baseline and overall higher value of the project. Inefficient review process and different timelines of drilling are examples of disadvantages. The overall outcome was that the joint approach was widely beneficial, especially for Greenlandic stakeholders.
While the joint SBS revealed a number of interesting socio-economic issues and trends, some of which are described in this paper, the true value of a joint SBS was in the process rather than the product. Private companies, regulators and stakeholders can all benefit from such an approach, and the authors recommend that this becomes a standard approach when situations allow.
