Cerrejón and Colombia’s Guajira region: From protracted company-community conflict to earning a social license to operate?

Cerrejon, a large-scale open-pit coal mine in Colombia that started operating in the early 1980s, has received multiple national awards and recognition for the various corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and programs it has implemented in recent years. Despite these initiatives, however, Cerrejon faces increasing stakeholder claims and continues to have conflictive relationships with local communities owing to differing interests relating to the use, management, appropriation, utilization, exploration, exploitation, conservation, and protection of environmental resources. The case documents the history of the relationship between Cerrejon and local communities. It introduces the mine’s history and of Cerrejon's mining and CSR activities. It traces the company's management of its social and environmental impacts in light of the applicable international standards. The case sheds particular light on the issues that underpin the company's conflictive relationship with local communities, who have a stake in the territory exploited by the company's mining activities. The case concludes with open questions concerning how Cerrejon, having increased its CSR activities while facing increased stakeholder claims, should continue to manage its relationship with local communities, to maintain or achieve a 'social license to operate' going forward.