Initial public reactions to carbon capture and storage (CCS): differentiating general and local views

Abstract

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered a potential climate change mitigation option, but public opposition may hamper its implementation. A quasi-experimental approach is used to examine whether ‘not in my back yard’ (NIMBY) sentiments can be anticipated at the initial stage when CO₂ storage locations have been selected and communicated to the public. Furthermore, the psychological structure of initial reactions to CO₂ storage plans is studied to ascertain the differences between people living in the direct vicinity of a proposed CO₂ storage location (i.e. onsite residents) and people who do not (i.e. offsite residents). The results indicate that initial reactions to local CCS plans are not necessarily dominated by NIMBY sentiments. For onsite residents as well as offsite residents, trust in government affects their judgements of the risks and benefits associated with CCS, which in turn affects their inclination to protest against CCS plans. Onsite residents’ inclination to protest is affected by their perceptions of local safety risks, but this is less of a concern for offsite residents. The inclination to protest against CCS is unrelated to concern about climate change.

Le captage et stockage de carbone (CSC) est considéré comme une option possible d'atténuation du changement climatique, mais l'opposition publique pourrait entraver sa mise en application. Une approche quasi-expérimentale est employée pour examiner si des sentiments de « pas dans ma cour » (« Not in my backyard – NIMBY ») pourraient être anticipés dans les stades initiaux, à l’étape de sélection des lieux de stockages de CO₂ et leur communication au public. Par ailleurs, la structure psychologique des premières réactions aux plans de stockage de CO₂ est étudiée de manière à déterminer la différence entre les personnes vivant à proximité des lieux de stockages proposés (c'est-à-dire résidents sur site) et les autres personnes ne vivant pas sur le site (c'est-à-dire résidents hors-site). Les résultats indiquent que les premières réactions aux projets CSC locaux ne sont pas nécessairement dominées par des sentiments « NIMBY ». L'opinion des résidents sur site comme pour les résidents hors-site sur les risques et bénéfices associés au CSC est influencée par leur confiance dans le gouvernement, qui à son tour influence ou non leur tendance à protester contre les projets de CSC. Les tendances protestataires des résidents sur site sont influencées par leur perception des risques de sécurité locale, mais ceux-ci constituent une moindre préoccupation pour les résidents hors-site. Les tendances protestataires au sujet du CSC ne sont pas liées aux préoccupations sur le changement climatique.

Keywords:

• carbon capture and storage (CCS)
• climate change mitigation
• NIMBY
• protest
• public attitudes
• risk perception
• trust

Keywords:

• Mots clés : Captage et stockage de carbone (CSC)
• mitigation du changement climatique
• attitudes du public
• confiance
• « pas dans ma cour » (NIMBY)
• protestations
• perceptions du risque

Acknowledgement

We thank the members of Bachelor Project 17 for their help in conducting the study.

Notes

Among the reasons for a belief that this procedure would work is that people who live in the proximity of a natural gas field are probably aware of its existence, but those who do not live near a natural gas field are far less confident that such a field does not exist (particularly if it is supposedly depleted and hence not used for the extraction of natural gas). Furthermore, university researchers (who also identified themselves as such) invited respondents to fill out the questionnaire, which has likely increased their confidence in the accuracy of the information presented in the questionnaire.

The manipulation check consisted of the item ‘Does the government plan to store CO₂ in the practically depleted natural gas field underneath your municipality?’ (‘Yes’/’No’). We further conducted post-study interviews and observed respondents’ reactions to the debriefing in which the manipulation and the research objectives were explained. Both the interviews and observations confirmed that most respondents actually believed the information stating that they lived on top of a practically depleted gas field. As explained before, people who live in the proximity of a gas field are probably aware of the existence of this gas field, but those who do not will be less confident that such a field does not exist.

The sample had the following composition. Sex: 55% females. Age: 49% between 18 and 35 years; 28% between 35 and 50 years; 22% 50+ years. Education: 51% high; 32% moderate; 17% low. House ownership: 60% house owners.