The Social Dynamics of Carbon Capture and Storage: Understanding CCS Representations, Governance and Innovation(The Earthscan Science in Society Series)

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has emerged rapidly as a crucial technological option for decarbonising electricity supply and mitigating climate change. Great hopes are being pinned on this new technology but it is also facing growing scepticism and criticism. This book is the first to bring together the full range of social and policy issues surrounding CCS shedding new light on this potentially vital technology and its future. The book covers many crucial topics including the roles and positions that different publics, NGOs, industry, political parties and media are taking up; the way CCS is organised, supported and regulated; how CCS is being debated and judged; how innovation, demonstration and learning are occurring and being conceptualised and promoted; and the role of CCS in the transition to a low carbon energy future. The authors draw on a variety of approaches, concepts, methods and themes and provide a new understanding of innovation in the energy and climate change fields. It tackles the many issues in a way that speaks to those concerned not only to understand these developments, but to those who are involved in the scientific and technological work itself, as well as those charged with evaluating and making decisions relevant to the future of the technology.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction. 2. An introduction to key developments and concepts in CCS: history, technology, economics and law. 3. Introduction to section on perceptions and representations. 4 public understanding of and engagement with CCS. 5. Colonising the future: the case of CCS. 6. Beyond ‘For or Against’: environmental NGO-evaluations of CCS as a climate change solution. 7. Introduction to section on governance. 8. The evolving international CCS community. 9. Up and down with CCS: the issue-attention cycle and the political dynamics of decarbonisation. 10. Technology management in the face of scientific uncertainty: a case-study of the CCS Test Centre, Mongstad. 11. Introduction to section on innovation. 12. CCS: a disruptive technology for innovation theory. 13. Learning in CCS demonstration projects: social and political dimensions. 14. Conclusions.

About the Author :
Nils Markusson has 15 years experience in the area of innovation and technology studies. He currently works as a Research Associate at the Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage research centre on several projects on aspects of CCS innovation. Simon Shackley works on assessing options for removal and storage of CO2. This includes techno-economic, socio-political and policy evaluations and implications. He first became interested in CCS in 2000 having analysed the potential limitations of carbon mitigation from other leading options. Benjamin Evar is a PhD student at the Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage research centre at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the emerging governance of carbon capture and storage, and the role of science in policymaking.

Review :
"The book makes a significant contribution to our existing knowledge and provides interested professionals, policymakers and members of the public with a timely overview of the critical issues involved in the societal acceptance of CCS" – Peta Ashworth, Chair of the Social Research Network under the International Energy Agency's Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme "Would CCS have been in a better state had this book been published in 2005? Probably. Although it is not exhaustive in addressing the social dynamics of CCS, this in itself makes this book worth reading for those interested in climate policy and innovation, but it is obligatory reading for those working on CCS. At the moment, CCS is not on track to play the role that is so badly needed to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use. If climate policies eventually make CCS a commercial necessity for fossil fuel-based industries, then this book deserves to be re-read. Its knowledge and lessons will allow us to get it right this time." – Heleen de Coninck, Climate Policy