Connect | London // Debate: Is "Social License to Operate" now the hardest permit to secure?
- —
- Management & Operations
- Data Center Construction
- Open Session
Speakers
Nienke Ris
Community Affairs Director EMEA, Microsoft
Roy Maxwell
Director ESG & Product Management, Kevlinx
Director Site Selection, atNorth
Edgar van Essen
Managing Director, Switch Datacenters
Michael Blake
EMEA Community and Workforce Development, Regional Manager - Global Data Centers, Google
Head of Channels, DCD
Public perception is now rising as a common and credible threat to data center projects. Across Europe, community resistance, political scrutiny, and online anti‑DC narratives are derailing developments before planning even begins. The “social license to operate” now covers far more than community engagement: it reflects whether a project is seen as legitimate, beneficial, and welcome by the people who live around it. And right now, that legitimacy is under strain in the face of NIMBYISM.
This session will explore:
- Where the “social license” belongs in the development cycle
- How to build community value into projects from day one
- Whether education pathways and outreach can shift public perception
- How the industry regains narrative control amid rising hostility