Societal Capital is what an organisation earns when it simultaneously holds:

• Public licence (Regulatory) – formal regulatory and institutional approval

• Social licence (Community) – relational support from directly affected stakeholders, and

• Popular licence (Broad) – broader societal tolerance, often informal and revocable.

Where these licences intersect, societal capital emerges — a durable form of legitimacy and goodwill rooted in trust, transparency, and alignment with societal values and norms.

Read more about it in our white paper which you can download below.