Awareness, knowledge, beliefs, and opinions regarding CCS of the Dutch general public before and after information

Public support can be crucial to the success of CO2 mitigation policy, as recently demonstrated by the public's reaction to a planned CCS project in the Netherlands. It is therefore imperative to gain better understanding of the public view on CCS and adjust communication efforts accordingly. The present study aims to (1) enhance insight into currently held beliefs and misconceptions among the general public about CCS and CO2; (2) study the interaction between balanced expert information and lay people beliefs; (3) investigate the impact of media use and exposure to news about CCS. To meet aim (1), we interviewed 15 respondents to identify commonly held beliefs. Next, we investigated the prevalence of these beliefs by questionnaire among 401 respondents. To meet aim (2), we administered an information-choice questionnaire (ICQ) about CCS among 134 respondents and interviewed the respondents afterwards to allow for elicitation of remaining, unaddressed beliefs as well as responses to the expert information. To meet aim (3), all respondents to this research received questions about their media use and exposure to recent media events about CCS. Results indicate that (1) Several misperceptions can be identified about CCS, but also about CO2 and electricity production, that strongly relate to people's overall attitude towards CCS; (2) After reading expert information, remaining concerns are mainly about the safety of CO2 storage; and (3) of all media involved in the research, time spent on reading national newspapers has the strongest and most consistent relation with awareness of and attitude towards CCS. We conclude that (1) the presence of particular knowledge about CCS and topics related to CCS cannot be assumed in an audience of laypeople, and (2) that the type of beliefs held by people as well as how these beliefs affect their overall opinion of a technology are difficult to foresee and may be difficult to understand by experts. These conclusions are crucial to keep in mind when drafting a CCS communication strategy. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.