Canaries in Coalmines:Socio-Economic

Research for Carbon Capture and Storage

TechnologiesDavid M. Reiner

Judge Business SchoolUniversity of Cambridge

Presented at Royal Academy of Engineering

28 February, 2008

Some Socio-economic & Policy Issues

• Innovative models for promoting CCS deployment • Improving economic models and analysis• Encouraging technological innovation & diffusion• Business ecosystems for CCS• Liability and regulatory design• Education and Training• Public communications and the need for

developing useful materials • Role of CCS in post-2012 international

negotiations and national/EU frameworks

Explaining CCS to the Public• Need for credible actors (BGS, BRGM, etc)

to devote considerable effort to explaining basic geoscience (and engineering) to the public and especially key stakeholders

• Need for balancing technical detail and public comprehensibility

• Focus on the “attentive public” and target sources of information (internet, media, libraries, museums)

Sleipner (courtesy Statoil)

Statoil Overview

Statoil Close-Up

IPCC Special Report(courtesy Australian CO2CRC)

BRGM Overview

http://www.brgm.fr/brgm//CO2_animation/animlong.swf

GEUS Geological Options

GEUS Capture and Storage

Battelle PNL Hub and Spoke

• Promises, Promises: By early in 2006,the Department would “draw together an expert group to define a communications strategy that will promote consistent and effective messaging, based on research into public perceptions and attitudes, and drawing from the best communications materials available. It is planned to complete a provisional strategy by late Spring 2006.”

Committee Findings: The Government has done little so far to engage the public in a dialogue about CCS technology. We accept that it is early days for the technology but previous experience has emphasised the value of early engagement. The evidence we have seen does not support the view that the Minister’s confident and relaxed attitude towards the Government’s performance on this issue is justified.

ZEP Strategic Deployment Document Action Plan (Nov 06)

• Plan an information campaign - now– Groups such as national and European parliamentarians, journalists, environmental

pressure groups and representatives of civil society are particularly important targets.• Ensure communication is a dialogue, not one way

– we must use professional agencies to help define the message, the messenger, the medium used and the target public

• Assign a significant budget– A well-organised outreach campaign is not cheap – around €250k per country

• Regularly monitor the public reaction & respond when necessary– Both before and after the launch of any campaign, we will need to gauge public opinion,

and listen to it regularly (Eurobarometer plus focus groups)

Cautionary Tales• Industry and CCS advocates explicitly trying to avoid

fate of nuclear power by engaging stakeholders but the level of effort is minimal given alleged scale

• Strong public support for renewables among both the public and NGOs means CCS advocates should avoid engaging in a perceived zero-sum game with renewables

• Still too early to predict public response, but first projects, NGO attitudes and media coverage will play critical roles in shaping perceptions

• Need to think seriously about how public and interested parties will obtain and process information

Thank You!

David ReinerJudge Business SchoolUniversity of Cambridge

d.reiner@jbs.cam.ac.uk