Peta Ashworth, Group Leader of the Science into Society Group at the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) presented a Global CCS Institute webinar on public awareness and acceptance of CCS.

1. Communicating about CCS
Webinar for Global CCS Institute
Peta Ashworth, Group Leader, Science into Society & Anne Maree Dowd, Senior Social Scientist
16th August 2012
CSIRO EARTH SCIENCE AND RESOURCE ENGINEERING

2. Three years in 30 minutes!
• Overview & Acknowledgements
• Communicating for CCS Workshop, Paris 2009
• International Comparison of Public Outreach
• Social Site Characterisation
• Evaluating Global CCS Communication Materials
• Communicating the risks of CCS
• How Australians Value Water
• Understanding How Individuals Perceive CO2
• Closing thoughts – informed decision making
Communicating about CCS

3. Acknowledgements
•My team at CSIRO: Anne Maree Dowd, Talia Jeanneret, Shelley Rodriguez, Angela
Colliver (Education)
•Sarah Wade: Wade LLC, Washington, USA
•Judith Bradbury, Gretchen Hund: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Battelle,
USA
•Sallie Greenberg: University of Illinois, USA
•David Reiner, Olaf Corry: Cambridge University, England
•Simon Shackley & team: University of Edinburgh, Scotland
•Marjolein de best Waldhober & team: ECN, the Netherlands
•Dancker Daamen, University of Leiden, the Netherlands
•Kenshi Itaoka & team: Mizuho Research Institute, Japan
•Edna Einsiedel & team, University of Calgary, Canada
Communicating about CCS

4. The projects
1. Conference on Communication – Paris, November, 2009
2. International Comparison of Public Outreach Cases
3. Synthesize Existing Materials
 Database on communication activities
 Evaluation of communication materials
4. Social Site Characterisation
5. Communicating Risk Assessments
6. Extension to FENCO* work
7. CCS Stakeholder Day – Tokyo, November, 2010
8. Understanding How Individuals Perceive CO2
*FENCO = Fossil Energy Coalition Network
Communicating about CCS

5. The Projects
9. Conducting a Large Group Process in Canada, Netherlands &
Scotland
10. Identifying public perceptions to CCS using ICQ
11. Understanding Sources of Opposition to CCS
 Media Analysis
 Attitudes of Environmental Activists to CCS
12. CCS Education Materials
13. CCS Flagship projects in Australia
 Collie Hub – Large group process
 DPI Victoria – Series of focus groups
 Report on How Australian’s Value Water
Communicating about CCS

6. The Paris Workshop, November 2009
In total 98 participants from 17 countries attended. Key themes:
1. Setting CCS in the context of other energy options
2. Importance of language used
3. Tailoring for different audiences
4. The importance of process and early involvement
5. Multiple sources of information for increased credibility
Communicating about CCS

7. International Comparison of Public Outreach
Best practice in communications and outreach alone are not
sufficient to ensure successful CCS project deployment.
A project’s ability to adjust its planning and management to its
social context is more likely to ensure a positive outcome for all
involved.
Successful projects integrate communication and outreach as a
critical component of the project from the beginning.
Communicating about CCS

8. International Comparison of Public Outreach
1. To what extent are the key government (national, state, local)
and project team members aligned?
2. Can the project developer affect the situation and enhance
coordination and a shared agenda?
3. Are communication experts/staff included as an integral part of
the project team from the outset of the project?
4. To what extent are factors related to social context included in:
– Selection of a specific site
– Project design and implementation
5. What degree of flexibility does the project developer have in
framing and adjusting the implementation of the project?
Communicating about CCS

9. Communication and Engagement Toolkit
• Synthesizing the findings from case studies to
assist in the design and management of
communciation and engagement activities
around CCS projects worldwide
• Universal guide for CCS implementors:
– to use at different stages & in various ways
– including methods & examples
– practical and informative
• Content:
– Gathering social data
– Stakeholder engagement
– Communication plan

10. Social Site Characterisation

11. Conducting Social Site Characterization
1. Stakeholder identification
2. Data interpretation and use
3. What are the information needs
– If missing information will seek from those around them, particularly those
with similar views or those they trust
– Frequent misconceptions : understanding of scale, pressure effects, nature
of storage space
4. What are the concerns and perceptions?
- Not always technical risks but broader social factors
5. What are the best options for outreach and engagement
CSIRO. Science into Society Group

12. Evaluating Global CCS Communication Materials
Communicating about CCS

13. Some of the findings:
•Focus is still on CCS and how it works, rather than how it might be
made to work
•Transport is the invisible technology
•There is a heavy reliance on climate change as the sole rationale for
justifying CCS
•A large majority of CCS materials is overtly positive
•The internet and English language remains the main focus for CCS
communication
•There is a lack of publicly available CCS education materials
•The one size fits all approach limits the usefulness to many groups
CSIRO. Science into Society Group

14. Communicating the risks of CCS

15. Pertinent project characteristics:
Historic and economic ties
 Major employer, well paid jobs, support to local economy and tax base
 Communicating with company employees
 Project hosts present and active in the community well before CCS project was
initiated
Emphasis on community relations
 Significant experience communicating and working with local stakeholders with
dedicated community relations staff
Context
 Need for fossil fuels and potential benefits of CCS not in dispute
 Less on climate change but recognition that regulatory constraints on CO2 could
affect business and local economy in the future
Structure of the project team
 Engagement led by host company
CSIRO. Science into Society Group

16. Key Findings
1. Recognise the risks to the projects are likely broader than just
the technical risks and commit up front to a comprehensive plan
to address them.
2. Be open respectful and responsive to the public.
3. Be proactive in the sense of planning ahead about issues that
could potentially arise.
4. Prepare for media interactions.
5. Use appropriate visual aids and analogies to help communicate
concepts to the public and keep them simple.
Communicating about CCS

17. How Australians Value Water
People perceive diverse values in water:
• economic and practical
•ecological
•aesthetic and recreational
•religious in nature
Protesters who gathered in Griffith at a
forum over the water plans. Photo: Kate
Geraghty
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-
change/the-lie-of-the-land-20101025-
170xc.html#ixzz1uHMsjU8Y
Communicating about CCS

18. How Australians Value Water
These values are impacted by various demographic categories and
interpersonal differences. For example:
•Professional identity
•Residential location
•Cultural and religious heritage
•Risk perception
•Environmental and ecological values
Communicating about CCS

19. How Australians Value Water
Recommendations:
1. Continue to inform and monitor arguments being made about
impacts on water by CCS and other similar industries (UCG, CSG)
2. Understand the priority local communities place on water and
how and what they may be willing to trade off between such
priorities
3. Ensure technical conversations about water at the local level
acknowledge the various values individuals place on water
4. Engage in a conversation regarding risk and benefit that
encompasses a broader scope of concerns than the technical
likelihood or improbability of danger to aquifers due to of CO2
leakage.
Communicating about CCS

20. Understanding how individuals perceive CO2
Rationale
1. Climate change and technologies, such as CCS, make reference
to carbon dioxide (CO2)
2. General public’s knowledge and understanding of CO2 properties
influences how they engage with carbon emitting industries and
technologies
3. There has been little research that has investigated public
perceptions, knowledge and understanding of CO2
Communicating about CCS

21. Understanding how individuals perceive CO2
Key Aims
1. Explore the public’s knowledge and understanding of the
properties of CO2
2.Examine the influence of that knowledge on their perceptions of
CO2 and CCS
3.Investigate how information provision about the underlying
properties and characteristics of CO2 influences individual
attitudes towards CCS
4.Identify if any differences between countries exist in relation to
values and beliefs, knowledge of CO2’s properties, and CCS
perceptions.
Communicating about CCS

23. CO2 Properties

24. CO2 Sources

25. CO2 Uses

26. CO2 Effects

27. Effects of information provision
Two analysis (ANOVA and Regression analysis) are
conducted to investigate factors related to the change
of opinions
Dependent variables
 Changes (differences) of opinions of three different types of
CCS (CCS implementation in their country, their
neighbourhood (onshore) and in the seabed under the nearest
sea (offshore) ) between first and second assessment
Independent variables
 Information packages (ANOVA)
 Importance measurements of the pieces of information
(Regression analyses)
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28. Effects of Information provision
1. Provided information packages describing CO2’s characteristics (A)
 Positive influence on opinions of all types of CCS implementations, especially
information on CO2’s properties and sources
2. Provided information packages describing natural phenomena
including CO2 (B)
 Negative influence on opinions of all types of CCS implementations, especially
information on Mt. Mammoth and on the paint factory accident ; however,
positive effects of information on hot springs on opinions
3. Provided information packages describing CO2’s behaviour during
CCS (C)
 Negative influence on attitudes toward CCS implementation in any location except
for offshore CCS.
 Particularly strong negative influence of information regarding microearthquakes
and the possibility of CO2 leakage through cracks in caprock, while information
regarding existing CO2 transportation activity provided positive effects.
Communicating about CCS

29. Recommendations
1. Effort to promote dialogue and understanding of CCS should
include information on CO2’s properties and chemistry
2. Topics deemed important by respondents should be addressed
by communicators
3. Care should be taken in describing:
– CO2 natural phenomena
– Behaviour of CO2in the CCS process
4. Many members of the public still require basic information on
climate change, CCS, and their relationship to CO2 emissions.
5. Additional CCS education and outreach campaigns should be
planned through less-formal mechanisms.
Communicating about CCS

30. Informed decision making
Requires understanding the values, objectives, and concerns of
affected parties(stakeholders).
1. Most people are unsure about how they feel about proposed
alternatives
2. Minimal understanding of broader context in which decisions
must be made;
3. Unclear about how their values will be affected;
4. Prone to judgmental biases;
5. Ill-equipped (or unwilling) to address the required tradeoffs.
Source: Joe Arvai, University of Calgary
Communicating about CCS

31. Questions
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