Employing CCS Technologies in the Caribbean: Revisited

Abstract

As global leaders try to find different forms of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies, Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to assist in making the economies sustainable by bridging energy production with climate change in the short term. However, public acceptance is one of the most critical factors affecting CCS that must be considered. Since the public’s environment and standard of living can be directly affected through the implementation of this technology, it is imperative that they feel confident in its safety and reliability. In addition, consumers may be expected to pay higher prices for electricity in order to facilitate the technology. Thus, they will expect assurance that their investments are both necessary and effective. The public’s acceptance in T&T towards adopting geological CCS as a means of carbon dioxide emission mitigation is being revisited utilizing a random survey ten years later to see if the population’s perception has been altered when compared to the last time this survey was conducted. The major difference however was that no preamble about CCS was included in this instance as a true sense of the public’s knowledge is being ascertained. The survey was constructed to highlight the technical, legal and economic issues which would ultimately guide policy development. The majority of the participants over (95%) were highly educated and also very concerned (84%) about climate change with over 70% of the participant having some knowledge of CCS. This provided a better picture of what persons would generally perceive of the technology. From the survey, 15% thought it was generally dangerous whilst 25% though that it was safe. This meant that approximately 60% of the participants were generally uninformed about the risks associated with CCS. In general, around 9 to 20% were not concerned about any risks associated with CCS. However, at any given time, close to 50% were very concerned with the risks and over 80% concerned about any form of leakage, whether presently or in the distant future. When compared to the results in 2008, back then 90% of the participants were concerned about the potential of CO2 leaking. Ten years later, the same percentage share the same concerns. It seemed that a higher percentage of persons was worried about leakage of stored CO2 occurring on land (approximately 90%) vs. 44% who had the same concern about CO2 leaking from a marine environment. In 2018, 44% thought that CCS should be pursued whereas 10 years ago only 26% supported the idea. The majority of participants thought that energy companies should pay for CCS with a substantive involvement by the government. Only 31% of the participant were willing to pay for CCS via taxes. These findings indicate that although there is a greater awareness of CCS and a large concern for climate change, the public still had significant concerns on the risks associated with CCS and potential for CO2 to leak. As a result, demonstration projects would be required to convince the public that the technology is safe.