Developing communications about CCS: three lessons learned

To curb the risks of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change posits that global CO2 emissions from the energy supply sector must be reduced to 90% below 2010 levels between 2040 and 2070. Electricity generation is the largest contributor to emissions from the energy supply sector. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) holds the promise of helping to reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants, as part of a low-carbon portfolio that could also include energy efficiency, natural gas, renewables and nuclear power. To inform people’s decisions about whether or not to support the implementation of CCS, our team created brochures about 10 low-carbon technologies as well as a computer tool that helped users to develop technically realistic low-carbon portfolios. Here, we highlight three main lessons we learned in developing these communications about CCS: (1) when learning about CCS people also want to know about other alternatives; (2) using simple wording improves understanding, even about complex technologies; and (3) the time to communicate about CCS is now.