Does the nationality of CO2 matter? Public perceptions of a Northern European market for CO2 storage (CCSMARKET)

CCSMARKET analyses what laypersons in Norway, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK think about carbon capture and storage (CCS) using surveys.

CCS is a technology to capture CO2 from cement factories, waste incineration facilities, or chemical plants before it reaches the atmosphere where it would contribute to global warming.

The captured CO2 is then stored deep underground in empty oil and gas fields or in other geological structures that are sealed-off and can keep the CO2 for centuries to millennia. The experts from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the EU, and the Norwegian Government think using CCS is important if we want to stop emitting CO2 to reach the 1.5°C-goal, most states have agreed upon in the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The technology is ready for use, but in some countries people are sceptical of the technology and are against its deployment, like in the Netherlands or Germany.

At the same time, in Norway and the UK, there are very concrete plans to import CO2 from other countries and store it under the North Sea. The Norwegian government has initiated substantial efforts to develop offshore storage solutions on the Norwegian shelf in the North Sea. The storage potential is higher than the emissions from the Norwegian energy sector. Thus, CO2 is planned be imported from other countries to fill storage sites on Norwegian territory.

The lack of public acceptability, especially of onshore storage has been a barrier to the promotion of CCS in Europe in the past. With CCSMARKET we want to find out how the prospect of exporting CO2 to other jurisdictions might affect the acceptability in the sending countries and whether people in the importing countries would still be in favour of CCS. What the public thinks influences the political feasibility of setting up a European CO2-transport and -storage infrastructure and this can affect the chances of actually reaching the goal of NetZero Emissions.