Going beyond the properties of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology: How trust in stakeholders affects public acceptance of CCS

Previous research has primarily addressed people's perceptions of the properties of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology to predict public acceptance of this climate change mitigation option. This paper highlights another influential factor: Public trust in CCS stakeholders. Recent experimental research is reviewed and discussed to show that lay people's trust in stakeholders affects their acceptance of CCS implementation. This research further shows that people tend to trust environmental NGOs more than industrial stakeholders. This is caused by their perceptions of organizational motives—public-serving motives in the case of environmental NGOs and organization-serving motives in the case of industrial organizations—rather than by their perceptions of organizational competence concerning the issue. Stakeholders engender most trust by communicating arguments that are congruent with the organizational motives they are expected to act upon. Finally, people more readily accept CCS policy decisions when they know that relevant stakeholders receive an opportunity to voice their opinions in the decision-making process. The value of experimental research in the applied context of CCS and the practical implications of this research are discussed.