The effect of trust on people's acceptance of CCS (carbon capture and storage) technologies: Evidence from a survey in the People's Republic of China

•This paper provides a timely study of the public attitudes towards CCS in China.•Willingness to support CCS and the impact of trust are examined.•Perceived risk is the most important indicator to acceptance of CCS.•Trust enhances expected benefits and eases concerns about the risks of CCS.

This study aims to explore the factors affecting public acceptance of CCS (carbon capture and storage) technologies in China. A survey based on online questionnaires and face-to-face interviews was conducted between September and December 2014. Findings show that, in China the public is still not fully aware of CCS technologies, compared with other renewable energy technologies, and indicates a slightly supportive attitude towards the application of CCS technologies as an alternative technological option to mitigate climate change. In addition, the regression model revealed that public cognition, economic benefits and environmentalism exerted a positive impact, while perceived risk, which is the decisive factor among all related variables, has a negative effect on the acceptance of CCS. Trust in CCS project implementation stakeholders has a positive and direct influence on public decision-making to support CCS. Meanwhile, the interaction between trust and perceived risks and benefits also appears to be significant, indicating that trust indeed enhances the public's expected benefits, while easing concerns about the risks of CCS. These findings suggest that government institutions and project developers should take measures to control the risks of CCS in order to construct and maintain people's trust in the technologies themselves and the project implementation stakeholders.