Safety of CCUS seen as top priority for public

Ensuring the safety and effectiveness of carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) are the top two priorities for the public, recent government research has revealed.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), in partnership with UK Research and Innovation’s Sciencewise programme, commissioned Traverse to deliver a public dialogue to understand citizens’ attitudes towards CCUS.

In its 10-point plan the government revealed it is aiming to deploy CCUS in two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s, and for two more clusters to be operational by 2030.

In total 112 people took part in seven workshops during October and November last year where they had the opportunity to learn about CCUS before using an online platform to complete individual activities and feedback tasks relevant to the discussions. They were asked to develop criteria the government should consider for the implementation of CCUS.

Participants lived in four locations where CCUS may be implemented; Aberdeen, Teesside, Liverpool and Port Talbot, as well as Nottingham where it is not being proposed.

Overall, safety was the most important factor identified and support for CCUS was “explicitly predicated” on it being safe.

Specifically, the storage of CO2 under the seabed was the most worrying safety concern for participants, but they also had concerns about the safety of CO2 being transported. Risks of leaks and earthquakes, and the harm these might cause to marine life, were highlighted.

The research found that those who took part wanted the entire CCUS process (including decommissioning) to be safe, and for safety features to be explicitly and accessibly communicated, supported by a strong evidence base.

Concerns over safety and costs meant participants felt strongly that contracts for CCUS projects should be awarded “openly and transparently”, preferably to what they described as “ethical” companies with a proven record of delivery on similar projects.

By the end of the dialogue, some participants felt reassured about CCUS’ overall safety, while others still had doubts. However, a few disagreed with the concept of CCUS altogether as they believed it avoided the problem of producing carbon emissions in the first place. Their views on safety tended to harden as the research progressed.

Those who were strongly opposed felt CCUS was a “sticking plaster” tackling the symptoms rather than the causes of global warming by not reducing emissions.

The research also found support for independent oversight and regulation of all stages of CCUS projects. In particular, this oversight should ensure CCUS is safe and that wildlife is protected.

While there was a recognition that the path to net zero required multiple strategies, concerns were raised from a few about CCUS potentially taking investment away from other strategies, particularly renewables.

Additionally, support for CCUS was conditional on it making a “significant and timely” contribution to reaching net zero by 2050.

Costs must be considered in light of its contribution towards the target. People were concerned both about cost and costs spiralling out of control.

Deployment of projects

Overall the majority felt comfortable with CCUS being deployed in the UK generally and in their own local area – numbers who were comfortable increased over the course of the research. However, more were comfortable with CCUS being deployed across the country generally than in their own area.

Views on national deployment were shaped by opinions on whether or not CCUS is a desirable solution for reaching net zero, whereas views on local deployment were influenced by concrete local considerations such as providing jobs.

People in Aberdeen and Teesside were generally more favourable than other locations to their local case studies because they felt CCUS would have a positive impact on local employment.

Elsewhere the picture was less clear cut. In Port Talbot, some participants were concerned that the steel industry could not bear the cost of CCUS while in Liverpool the location of the proposed CCUS project in Ellesmere Port, outside the city, made some doubt it would benefit people from Liverpool.

In a foreword to the report energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “The government recognises that understanding public attitudes towards technologies such as CCUS is crucial to ensure effective implementation.

“We are committed to listening to members of the public to help inform policy development over the coming months and years.”

Research released last September by Climate Assembly UK found out of its 110 members, 56 per cent disagreed that fossil fuels with CCS should be part of the UK’s generation mix for getting to net zero.

This dwarfed the 22 per cent who believed that they ought to be.