Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

An Asessment of the Barriers and Uncertainties for the Full Scale Deployment

By Charalampos Chouliaras (2013)

Abstract

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is nowadays considered to be a crucial technology regarding the carbon abatement strategies in order to tackle irreversible climate change. Although demonstration of full scale integrated CCS systems in various locations globally is already taking place, there are still significant technical, economic, political and financial barriers and uncertainties about CCS. A great challenge for the stakeholders is that the number of barriers and uncertainties for the full scale deployment of CCS is too high. The aim of this thesis therefore, is to identify the barriers and uncertainties related to the full scale deployment of CCS, present how do different stakeholders assess the barriers and how these barriers and uncertainties identified can be overcome. The methodology chosen for the assessment of the barriers and uncertainties is the Multi-Criteria Assessment (MCA), in which three scenarios are created, a short-term, a medium-term and a long-term, against which the barriers and uncertainties will be assessed. Eight experts from the governmental, scientific, business and environmental sector were interviewed, which although small, still an indicative sample. This thesis results in that the most important barriers and uncertainties for the full scale deployment of CCS are the economic and financial viability, the insufficient CO2 price, the need for stronger incentive mechanisms, the public acceptance, the lack of robust-transparent legal framework and the renewable energy competition. The process of interviewing experts also interestingly revealed that apart from the barriers identified in the literature review from existing social science literature, there are additional barriers to consider and assess for the deployment of CCS in further research. The additional barriers are the political urgency of climate change, the willingness to pay more for our energy supplies, the lack of infrastructure, the efficiency in CO2 capturing process, the unawareness of the climate change by the public, the lack of a global framework and the differences in views between different stakeholders. The assessment process by the experts interviewed reveals that there are significant differences between different stakeholders on how they perceive and score the barriers for the full scale deployment of CCS. The most significant differences are met in carbon lock-in and dependency on fossil fuel. Regarding on how to overcome the barriers and uncertainties for the full-scale deployment of CCS, the political willingness, the collaboration between governments, business sector, scientists and society and the awareness of climate change are met to be crucial.

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