Abstract
Carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is regarded as an important carbon emissions reduction technology response to climate change. Though some full-chain CCUS pilot projects have operated in China, many barriers exist when step** up to commercial applications, including significant negative perceptions of the environmental risk of CCUS. Therefore, to tailor constructive training or outreach programs for public acceptance of CCUS in China, a large national survey of public perceptions of CCUS technology was conducted in 2013. The questionnaire contained four themes focusing on people with a tertiary education. Six hundred paper–pencil questionnaires were dispatched to 22 universities/enterprises across 19 provinces and 2 municipalities, with a response rate of 95%. The results show that 91.4% of the participants agreed that the earth was experiencing climate change, and 74.3% were interested in low-carbon technologies, but while 22% had heard of CCUS, although with limited knowledge, only 3.6% had a good understanding of the technology. The results from the second part of the questionnaire show that 80.4% of participants believed that CCUS may help to mitigate the impacts of global warming, but the “Not in My Back Yard” (NIMBY) phenomenon was obvious from the location-based objections to transportation and storage processes. In addition, ten listed CCUS environmental management policies received extensive recognition from the participants, and about half of the participants considered that the related government departments should be responsible for environmental management as a first priority. The survey also indicates that the most trusted sources through which the survey participants obtain CCUS information are academic journals and textbooks, television, radio and newspapers, expert lectures and brochures on CCUS demonstration projects. According to the survey of public awareness of the environmental impact and management of CCUS technology in China, CCUS technology rates well for environmental benefits, but high environmental risk perceptions of CCUS lead to a lower acceptance of this carbon emissions reduction technology.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful for financial support from the China-EU Near Zero Emission Coal (NZEC) IIA programme (Risk Management and Public Acceptance of CCS Pilot Project), the China CDM foundation (Environmental Impact Assessment of CCS; Update of China’s CCUS Technical Roadmap), and CCUS Environmental Risk Management Pilot Research Project of Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China. The authors gratefully acknowledge all of the survey facilitators and participants, and they also thank S. Deng, S.J. Gao and C.Y. Fei (HUST) for their work in recording and collecting data. In particular, the authors acknowledge the comments, suggestions and encouragement from the editor-in-chief and executive editors.
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QL, Z-AC and GL designed the questionnaire and analyzed the data, all authors performed the research, GL and QL wrote the paper, Z-AC and L-CL carried out the survey, BC and XL analyzed the results. All authors discussed and approved the manuscript.
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Li, Q., Liu, G., Cai, B. et al. Public awareness of the environmental impact and management of carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage technology: the views of educated people in China. Clean Techn Environ Policy 19, 2041–2056 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1387-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1387-0