Climate Policy Vol. 4, pages 377-398 (2005)

Support for any project relies on the public’s perception of the problem at hand.   Simon Shackley and colleagues at the University of Manchester conducted a study to understand the public perceptions of off-shore CO2 capture and storage (CCS), (when initially presented to the idea and after more background information was given) and perceptions of the key risks of CCS.

To determine the public’s perception, two Citizen Panels were run. They found that no participants were familiar with CCS before the interview, and therefore most were neither for nor against the idea. Among all the given risks, the most common concern about CCS was the leakage of CO2 from reservoirs, but still the majority felt that CCS was necessary for decarbonization.  Even though the information was present to the two panels quite differently, they had very similar opinions about CCS.   The researchers concluded that basic concern for climate change is required for the consideration of CCS as a legitimate decarbonization option.